An external audit ordered by Pedro Sánchez concludes there is no trace of illegal financing in the PSOE's cash accounts from 2017 to 2024. The report, prepared by two experts linked to the government, endorses the party's cash system as coherent and verifiable. However, it highlights striking expenses during José Luis Ábalos's tenure as head of the Organization Secretariat.
Government President Pedro Sánchez announced the external audit of the PSOE's accounts six months ago, coinciding with Santos Cerdán's resignation as Organization Secretary following UCO revelations on commissions in public works. "I will launch an external audit on the Socialist Party's accounts," Sánchez stated at the time.
The report, prepared by professor Félix Alberto Vega Borrego—a Podemos candidate for the CGPJ in 2018—and César Martínez Sánchez—who served as chief of staff in the General Secretariat for Economic Affairs and G-20 from 2020 to 2023, and previously advised Manuela Carmena—, examines the party's cash payments totaling 940,388 euros from 2017 to 2024. According to the document, accessed by outlets like EFE and El País, the cash system is "coherent, closed, and verifiable": all entries come from bank origins or advance adjustments, and outflows are documented. 99% of funds enter via a BBVA account, with 1% from sporadic operations like merchandising sales, scrap, or a 1,000-euro lottery prize.
However, the report identifies "striking" and "improper" expenses during Ábalos's tenure (2017-2021), when the Organization Secretariat received 126,858 euros in cash. Among them, a meal for nine diners on December 24, 2019, in Valencia, children's menus on two occasions, and receipts at La Chalana seafood restaurant—frequented by those investigated in the Koldo case. Expenses over 60 euros per diner accounted for 4% to 25% annually. Other examples include a 332-euro "menu" in Madrid, 193.5 euros for a "daily menu" in Aranda del Duero, and 289.5 euros for three menus at El Lagar (96.50 euros per person).
Unusual locations are noted, such as a Paris hotel, a restaurant in La Massana (Andorra), and invoices from Brussels and Bruges (Belgium) in 2019. Receipts feature names like Ábalos (19,637 euros until 2019), Koldo García (11,291 euros, 2017-2019), his driver Eduardo Cantos, and exceptionally, Ábalos's ex-mother-in-law. Some tickets show overlapping timed consumptions at different restaurants, without evident explanation. PSOE sources state Ábalos authorized reimbursements, managed by Koldo.
The PSOE has submitted these data to the National Court, where Judge Ismael Moreno is investigating a secret proceeding on potential money laundering with cash. Martínez Sánchez acknowledges: "In total, I have spent more than five years acting as 'cabinet member' for progressive governments."
