A Madrid judge has admitted a complaint for perjury against former PSOE Organization Secretary Santos Cerdán, who has been imprisoned since last June for his alleged involvement in a contract-fixing and bribe collection scheme. In an order, to which elDiario.es has had access, the head of the 24th Court of Instruction of Madrid, Lidia Paloma Montaño, considers that Cerdán “would have substantially failed to tell the truth” when he appeared before the Senate Commission investigating the so-called 'Koldo case'. He states that there are “indications” of a “clear deviation between his narrative (…) and the material reality for which he was interrogated.”
According to the judge, this deviation would be “patent and manifest” in view of the content of a report from the Central Operational Unit of the Civil Guard contributed to the summary. In that Commission, the former socialist leader stated that he had only contacted former advisor Koldo García on two or three occasions from 2021 to 2023, when the aforementioned report includes “constant meetings” between the two between the years 2018 to 2023, according to the complaint filed by HazteOír. The Prosecutor's Office claimed that the complaint was inadmissible.
Thus, the judge affirms that Cerdán was untrue “when he declared that he would not have contacted Koldo García from 2021 to 2023, that he would not have been aware that Koldo García would have acted as an intermediary or for profit in the acquisition of masks, that he would not have given instructions to this person so that certain companies would benefit and that he would not have had a business relationship directly or indirectly through third parties, company or partnership filed with Koldo García.”
These are statements that, in the judge's opinion, would be refuted by the aforementioned UCO report, which “would reveal the opposite.” That is, that Cerdán “contacted Koldo García from 2021 to 2023, that he would have knowledge that Koldo García had acted as an intermediary or for profit in the acquisition of masks, that he would have given instructions to this person so that certain companies would benefit and that he would have had a business relationship directly or indirectly through third parties, a company or company interposed with Koldo García.”
According to these considerations, the judge understands that “an archive at this procedural moment would be hasty,” although before agreeing on the procedures to be carried out, she requests Congress to certify that Cerdán is no longer a deputy and, therefore, is not qualified. The former socialist leader resigned from his seat on June 16.