A recording intercepted by the UCO implicates Cerdán in the alleged collection of commissions.

A conversation intercepted by the UCO with former advisor Koldo García, in which former minister José Luis Ábalos and the PSOE's organizational secretary, Santos Cerdán, participated, reveals that the three discussed the debt that several companies awarded public works contracts had allegedly contracted with them.

According to 'El Mundo', Cadena Ser and eldiario.es, in the recorded conversation, which is transcribed in a report sent on June 5 by the UCO to the Supreme Court, Santos Cerdán, Ábalos and Koldo can be heard talking about up to four construction companies owing them money.

That debt is estimated to be more than 400,000 euros, according to investigators, and is allegedly payment in exchange for rigging public highway contracts.

Just yesterday, UCO agents searched Ábalos's home in Valencia and four companies, two of them located in Navarre, another in Granada, and one in Valencia.

After learning this news, the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) denied that Santos Cerdán participated in, much less influenced, public works contracts and that he "has never received a commission for it."

When the full report is released, Santos Cerdán will provide all the necessary explanations so that "once and for all his name and reputation will no longer be mixed up daily with cases that have nothing to do with him," the party said in a statement.

The Socialists regret that once again police actions are being reported through the media, resulting in "defenselessness and media trials" for those affected.