Authorities have concluded that there is no evidence of alterations in Koldo's recordings implicating Cerdán.
The investigation into alleged bribery payments for public construction works, involving former PSOE organization secretary Santos Cerdán and former ministerial advisor Koldo García, is progressing, but has not yet reached its conclusion.
On June 30, a provisional imprisonment order was issued for Santos Cerdán, and the legal maximum duration of the precautionary measure (six months) has not yet expired. The magistrate, Leopoldo Puente, has incorporated the conclusions of a recent forensic report in the order to maintain the provisional imprisonment of Cerdán.
The Guardia Civil conducted the investigation into the audio recordings that implicate Cerdán and García in the alleged bribery scandal. In these recordings, Cerdán is said to have explicitly recognized the collection of commissions linked to the award of certain public works and satisfying part of the same to other investigated individuals.
However, the defense has raised concerns about the material validity of the audio recordings. They argue that the object of the expertise is limited and presents "breaks," and that the forensic report does not confirm the authenticity of 75% of the evidence. Some irregularities were observed, such as labels being six months away from the recording date, the absence of internal date/time metadata, and the need for further studies.
In one recording, a modification of the sampling frequency was observed, with the encoding date being produced approximately six minutes later than expected. The defense maintains that the audio files do not correspond to any real conversation, but this aspect seems to be discredited by the content of the expert report.
The report states that no traces of alterations, manipulations, or abnormal behaviors were found in the administration of the iOS system related to the Voice Memos application and the audio recordings. The agents did not find signs of manipulation in the mobile application used for recording and storing the audio files.
The Civil Guard's forensic report also finds no evidence of manipulation in eight audio recordings intercepted from Koldo García, former advisor to the former minister José Luis Ábalos.
Despite the defense's requests for release, the magistrate emphasizes that there are still "more than sufficient reasons" to consider that Cerdán could have committed crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, influence peddling, and bribery. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office opposes Cerdán's release from prison and rejects his "impertinent and speculative" writings.
Cerdán has requested his release from prison on two occasions, first through a resource against the judge's decision, and later, through two written requests that his lawyers sent to the Supreme Court when he had been in prison for 70 days. However, the magistrate has dismissed these requests, stating that it is not appropriate at this time to modify the situation.
The investigations regarding Cerdán's precise patrimonial situation and possible economic links with Servinabar 2000 and his close personal circle are still ongoing. The investigating judge highlights that it is necessary to delve into these matters to fully understand the case.
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