MADRID (Reuters) -Spain’s Supreme Court ordered on Wednesday the provisional release from jail of a former senior official in the ruling Socialist Party, citing a reduced risk of evidence tampering amid an ongoing corruption investigation.
Santos Cerdan, who was remanded in custody in June, faces potential charges that include being part of a criminal organisation, bribery and influence-peddling over a scheme in which senior government-linked officials purportedly received kickbacks for awarding public works contracts.
Cerdan has denied any wrongdoing.
The Cerdan case is the most serious in a series of scandals dogging Spain’s Socialist-led left-wing minority government that forced Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to apologise in June and fend off calls from opponents for a snap election.
In a separate Supreme Court case, anti-graft prosecutors said on Wednesday they were seeking 24 years’ imprisonment for Cerdan’s predecessor as the Socialist Party’s organisational secretary, former Spanish Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos.
Abalos is accused along with an aide and a businessman of rigging public contracts for medical supplies such as face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was a cabinet member.
Abalos has also denied any wrongdoing.
In a writ seen by Reuters, Judge Leopoldo Puente ruled that while evidence against Cerdan had strengthened during the ongoing investigation, the risk of him destroying evidence – the main justification for his pre-trial detention – had been significantly mitigated.
The court had by now secured information that “would very likely have been concealed or would have been very difficult to access” had Cerdan remained free, Puente said.
Cerdan must surrender his passport, report to the Supreme Court every 15 days and remain in Spain.
The court said there were no risks of a repeat offence since Cerdan – also a former lawmaker – no longer holds public office or party leadership positions.
(Reporting by David LatonaEditing by Andrei Khalip and Gareth Jones)
