Spanish police raid Socialist Party headquarters as corruption scandals threaten Sanchez government
Civil Guard agents entered the ruling party's Madrid offices under judicial orders as part of a probe into alleged illegal financing
Spain's anticorruption police raided the headquarters of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist Party in Madrid on Wednesday. Agents of the Civil Guard's elite Central Operative Unit were deployed to obtain evidence for an ongoing probe into the alleged illegal financing of the ruling party. The raid comes one week after the National Court charged former PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, a key Sanchez ally, with money laundering, influence peddling, and other criminal offenses connected to the 2021 bailout of Plus Ultra airlines.
The investigation, led by National Court judge Santiago Pedraz, focuses on an alleged scheme from within the socialist party, involving eight crimes, including bribery, disclosure of secrets, inducement to false testimony, falsification of commercial documents, and crimes against state institutions. The probe centers on payments from the party's Secretariat and Management to Socialist fixer Leire Diez's network, subsequently disguised with false invoices. The Socialist party said Diez was acting on her own. Diez, who has left the party, denied wrongdoing. Party manager Ana Maria Fuentes is among those charged.
Wednesday's operation followed months of secret investigations after Civil Guard economic crimes experts discovered messages, communications, and bank transactions allegedly revealing the party was operating with a parallel accounting system.
Sanchez's government has been battered by a series of corruption scandals. His wife and brother are being probed over allegations of influence peddling, which both have denied. A former minister and a senior party official are both being investigated over allegations they played a part in a COVID-era kickback ring, which they have denied. The scandals led Sanchez to ask the nation for "forgiveness" in 2025, although Sanchez has not been directly linked to any of the cases.
This comes as Sanchez's fragile minority government has faced growing pressure from coalition partners. The head of the Basque Nationalist Party said it would be "irresponsible" for Sanchez to continue beyond 2026, citing "nine open cases" and a government "plagued by court cases." A key Catalan ally warned his party would back early elections if widespread illegal party financing were proven.
A social party spokesperson said the party was "calm and fully cooperating with the courts," stressing that any information requested would be handed over.