The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) has submitted to a Madrid court full information regarding its employment relationship with former member Leire Díez. According to documents provided to Judge Arturo Zamarriego, Díez did not hold any official positions within the party structure. However, in 2017, she was paid €15,612 for carrying out journalistic tasks.
The materials sent to the court emphasize that the party has no record of Díez ever holding organic posts within the PSOE. However, they noted that from 2011 to 2015, she served as a municipal councilor in Vega de Pas (Cantabria) representing the Socialists. This fact had previously been confirmed by Díez herself during questioning in November last year, where she denied any employment ties with the party and stated she had not received assignments from party leadership.
New documents shed light on additional details: the party officially acknowledged that in 2017 Díez provided journalistic services on a commercial basis. The specific nature of these tasks has not been disclosed. Shortly after, Díez became the focus of an investigation into alleged corruption and manipulation in the distribution of government contracts.
Judge’s investigation
Judge Samarriego began investigating Díez’s actions as early as last summer. He was interested in whether she acted together with businessman Javier Pérez-Dolset to obtain information that could influence investigations into politicians and business leaders. In exchange, certain privileges were reportedly offered by the prosecutor’s office and state attorneys. Both individuals are implicated in the case for bribery and influence peddling.
As part of the case, the judge summoned former PSOE organizational secretary Santos Cerdán and current Secretary of State for Telecommunications Antonio Hernando. Both are required to explain meetings with Díez and Pérez-Dolset that took place in the spring of 2024, when Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez temporarily stepped down after charges were filed against his wife Begoña Gómez.
Intracompany ties
The court seeks to determine whether Díez and Pérez-Dolset acted independently or at the party’s direction. Investigators obtained audio recordings of meetings with various individuals involved in the case, including the accused in the oil products case Alejandro Hamlyn and prosecutor Ignacio Stampa. In this context, the judge requested information from the party regarding the roles of Cerdán and Hernando during that period.
The PSOE response notes that Serdán was a member of the Navarra executive committee from 2012 to 2017 before moving to the party’s federal executive committee. He initially served as deputy secretary for territorial policy, and after José Luis Ábalos stepped down, he became secretary for organization. His duties included coordinating the executive body, managing internal processes, overseeing communications, and handling disciplinary matters.
Antonio Hernando’s Status
Regarding Antonio Hernando, the party emphasizes that he is the only one among those mentioned who remains a member of the PSOE. Díez and Serdán left the party in June 2025. Hernando previously served in the interim leadership of the Madrid branch and later held positions in the federal executive committee overseeing municipal policy, relations with institutions, and autonomous communities. Since July 2025, he has once again been a member of the federal executive committee.
All this information was provided to the court to determine whether meetings between Díez and Pérez-Dolset with party representatives had any official character or were private initiatives. The investigation is ongoing, with more interviews and analysis of the submitted materials expected in the near future.
