Spanish police entered the Madrid headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) on Wednesday to demand documents as part of a widening corruption investigation that is piling further pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government, judicial and police sources confirmed to Spanish media.
Agents from the UCO, the Guardia Civil’s elite anti-corruption and organised crime unit, carried out the operation at the party’s central Madrid offices under orders from National Court judge Santiago Pedraz.
The Guardia Civil said officers were searching for material linked to an on-going probe into alleged financial wrongdoing involving former PSOE member Leire Díez and several other individuals. ALSO READ: Smear campaigns & ‘mafia practices’ – the alleged corruption saga against Spain’s PM rolls on.
A court statement said Judge Pedraz ordered investigators to ‘confiscate diverse documentation and electronic archives in an investigation of a ring designed to destabilise judicial processes that were affecting the ruling party’.
According to judicial sources, the operation focused on gathering documents linked to alleged irregularities involving the SEPI state holding company and payments that Díez may have received from the PSOE.
The case against Díez emerged in 2025 after Spanish media published audio recordings that allegedly captured her attempting to discredit a member of the Guardia Civil’s anti-corruption unit. Subsequent reports also linked her to alleged efforts to influence state prosecutors.
The judge is examining whether Díez received payments from the party in connection with those alleged activities.
The PSOE has insisted Díez acted independently and without party authorisation. Díez, who has since left the party, has denied any wrongdoing.
Judge Pedraz is also investigating the alleged involvement of former PSOE heavyweight Santos Cerdán — already under investigation in a separate corruption case — along with a former Andalusian regional government official, a police officer, a businessman and two lawyers.
The investigation centres on suspicions including bribery, false testimony, forgery of commercial documents, influence peddling and corruption.
The latest operation comes amid a growing series of corruption cases surrounding Sánchez’s political circle and family members.
Last week, a separate court placed former socialist prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero under formal investigation over alleged irregularities connected to a state-backed airline bailout. Zapatero, who governed Spain from 2004 to 2011 and remains a close Sánchez ally, has denied wrongdoing. ALSO READ: Judge delays Zapatero’s Plus Ultra testimony as police seize jewellery and luxury watches from safe.
Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, and his brother, David Sánchez, are also under investigation in separate influence-peddling cases, which both deny. David Sánchez is expected to stand trial during the forthcoming days. ALSO READ: Trial of Spanish PM’s brother for alleged corruption postponed until late May.
Former transport minister José Luis Ábalos, once one of Sánchez’s closest political allies, is meanwhile awaiting a verdict in his own corruption trial after closing arguments concluded earlier this month.
Cerdán and Ábalos are both also being investigated over allegations they were involved in a kickback scheme dating back to the Covid-19 pandemic, accusations they deny.
The mounting scandals have intensified pressure on Sánchez, whose minority coalition government relies on the continued backing of smaller parliamentary allies.
Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, head of the right-wing People’s Party (PP), said the Sánchez administration ‘stinks’ of corruption and renewed demands for early elections. ALSO READ: Andalusia leaves Sánchez politically weakened as Spain edges further towards a PP-Vox era.
Sánchez, who has repeatedly denied any personal involvement in wrongdoing, has described the investigations involving his family as a politically motivated ‘smear campaign’ orchestrated by the right and far-right. ALSO READ: Spain’s main opposition party claims the ruling socialists are in ‘irreversible decline’.
Although he has not been directly implicated in any of the cases, the scandal involving former close allies prompted him last year to publicly ask Spaniards for ‘forgiveness’. ALSO READ: Pedro Sánchez vows not to quit, and presents 15-point anti-corruption plan.
The Spanish prime minister was at the Vatican on Wednesday ahead of a planned visit to Spain next month by Pope Leo XIV and was expected to give a press conference later in the day — his first public appearance since Zapatero was formally placed under investigation. ALSO READ: Sánchez rallies behind Zapatero, calls for ‘respect for the presumption of innocence’.
