The National Court in Madrid has ordered a new, supervised cloning of the mobile phone belonging to Juan Manuel Serrano, former president of Correos and former chief of staff to Pedro Sánchez. The order follows challenges by Serrano’s legal team to the device’s original seizure and the legality of an earlier data copy made by the Guardia Civil’s Central Operative Unit (UCO) without Serrano or his lawyer present.
The device is an iPhone 15 Pro Max, seized by the UCO on 27 May 2026. Central to an ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities involving the state holding SEPI, it was placed in a sealed room at the court on Tuesday morning. The cloning process is expected to take several hours and is being carried out under judicial oversight. Once it is complete, the UCO can access messages and emails stored on the device, but only after the court unseals the room in the presence of Serrano and his defense.
Serrano’s lawyer, Bernardo del Rosal, has consistently argued that the initial confiscation was improper because the judge had not formally designated Serrano as a suspect. On 10 July 2026, Serrano was formally placed under investigation following a police report alleging indications of involvement in two strands of the broader case known as the Leire Díez investigation: alleged efforts to influence judicial proceedings connected to the PSOE and alleged irregular commissions in public contracts. The defense calls the public-contract strand the “SEPI branch.” These remain investigative allegations, not findings of guilt.
The dispute intensified when the UCO told Judge Santiago Pedraz that it had already copied the phone’s contents in July, without the judicial supervision required for the new procedure. That contradicted the judge’s instructions that the process take place at the court with all parties present. During Tuesday’s proceedings, Serrano and his lawyer refused to recognize the validity of the UCO’s earlier copy. The court’s legal officer then began a new, fully supervised cloning. Serrano and his defense are due back in court the following morning for the official unsealing of the room and to verify the process’s integrity.
The procedural dispute has unfolded alongside several decisions over custody of the handset. Judge Pedraz initially ordered its return on 7 September, after finding that the extracted information had already been added to the case file. Following an appeal by Anticorrupción, he reversed course on 16 September and ordered the phone to remain in judicial custody. In a filing dated 6 October, prosecutors Elisa Lamelas and Mar Scharfhausen opposed returning it, arguing that the original device remained potentially relevant and could support further analysis and expert examination. They said the earlier extraction had not removed the handset’s evidentiary value.
Anticorrupción described the phone as objectively connected to the facts under investigation and as potential material evidence. Judge Pedraz rejected the defense’s request to annul the seizure, reasoning that Serrano’s lack of formal suspect status at the time did not prevent investigators from securing the device pending a judicial decision. He also said that neither law nor jurisprudence requires the affected person to be present for a data extraction to be valid, although he had ordered Serrano’s presence in this case to ensure transparency. Pedraz dismissed concerns about the chain of custody, noting that there was no evidence of tampering and that investigators should presume the phone’s contents intact. The competent chamber of the National Court is to decide Serrano’s appeal.
The UCO reportedly found numerous messages between Serrano and Leire Díez, who worked as director of Institutional Relations at Correos during his presidency. Investigators also examined messages from before her appointment. A police report described Serrano as potentially acting in the interests of certain members of the PSOE or the government. That remains an investigative allegation, not a judicial finding.
El Debate reported one exchange from May 2021 concerning Díez’s possible placement in a Correos role. Javier Fernández, identified in the reporting as a former president of SEPI, allegedly asked Serrano, “Could we put what we discussed about Leire into motion now?” Serrano reportedly replied, “OK, let’s keep talking.” The messages appeared in a UCO report sent to Judge Pedraz as part of the investigation into alleged irregularities in contracts involving SEPI.
As the investigation proceeds, Serrano’s defense has asked the court to filter the phone’s data, limiting the case to messages directly related to the alleged irregularities at SEPI, which focus on suspected kickbacks in several operations. The case has drawn attention because Serrano previously held roles central to government and the evidence is sensitive.
The dispute over digital evidence echoes broader debates in Spain about procedural safeguards and the rights of people under investigation. Similar disputes over evidence handling have surfaced in other high-profile cases, including the recent controversy in Valencia over the Mislata fairground tragedy, where the court’s handling of evidence and responsibility also came under close scrutiny. For more on how Spanish courts handle complex evidence disputes, see this report on the Valencia court’s decision in the Mislata case.
The Audiencia Nacional (National Court) is Spain’s top criminal court for major corruption and financial crime cases. The UCO is a specialized Guardia Civil unit focused on complex investigations. SEPI, the state industrial holding, has faced scrutiny over alleged irregularities involving public contracts. The outcome of Serrano’s case could influence future standards for handling digital evidence in Spanish judicial proceedings, especially in politically sensitive investigations.
