Hunters and Targets in the Alleged 'Plumbing' Plot of Ferraz

Until just a few days ago, most of these twelve individuals were virtually unknown to the general public. However, since last Monday, their faces and actions have dominated the country's political agenda due to their alleged direct or indirect involvement in the supposed 'plumbing' plot of Ferraz, aimed at discrediting the Economic Crime and Anti-Corruption Department of the Central Operational Unit (UCO), which leads the most sensitive investigations affecting the personal, partisan, and institutional circle of President Pedro Sánchez. They are PSOE members, businessmen, lawyers, prosecutors, and Civil Guard officers—names and faces previously familiar only within certain political, judicial, and police circles, but now essential to follow the day's news. What follows is a guide to identify those who have acted as alleged hunters in this plot, the potential targets they aimed to capture, and other figures involved in what has been described as a corruption hunt.

She denies being a 'plumber' of Ferraz and claims her presence in the February videoconference with businessman Alejandro Hamlyn—where she offered a deal with the Prosecutor's Office in exchange for information against investigators inconvenient for the PSOE—was due to her interest in writing a book about hydrocarbon plots. Díez Castro, recently photographed on several occasions entering the socialist headquarters on Madrid's Ferraz street and with prominent party members, served as deputy mayor in the Cantabrian municipality of Vega de Pas from 2011 to 2015. After Pedro Sánchez's rise to Moncloa, she ascended to high public office, first as Head of Communication at Enusa from 2028 to 2021, and then as Director of Philately and Institutional Relations at Correos from 2022 to 2024.

Arrested in 2019 during 'Operation Drake' against hydrocarbon fraud, led by now Lieutenant Colonel of the UCO Antonio Balas, his 'nemesis'. Residing in Dubai since March, after being allowed to leave the country by the National Court, he did not appear at the trial this week where the Prosecutor's Office demands over 60 years in prison, accusing him of tax fraud, criminal organisation (in its aggravated form of leadership, promotion, and coordination), and money laundering for allegedly masterminding a scheme to defraud the public treasury of 154 million euros. His lawyer claims the UAE has not granted him permission to leave due to an outstanding debt of 3,000 euros. President of Hafesa and grandson of the renowned shipowner from Neguri (Vizcaya), José María López Tapia, he followed in his grandfather's footsteps into the maritime oil transport business.

This businessman, founder of the video game company Zed Worldwide, is identified by the 'Koldo-Ábalos plot' facilitator, Víctor de Aldama, as another prominent member of the PSOE's 'plumbing'. Arrested in 2017 for alleged diversion of subsidies following the company's bankruptcy, he is out on bail awaiting trial. In the videoconference with Hamlyn, he offered a "deal" with the State Attorney's Office and the Prosecutor's Office in exchange for compromising information on individuals inconvenient for the socialists. In one of the latest audios released by El Confidencial, this businessman directly implicated the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the Secretary of Organisation of the socialists, Santos Cerdán, as being aware of these manoeuvres.

In various public statements, De Aldama also places this lawyer in the 'plumbing' of Ferraz. The videoconference with Alejandro Hamlyn was recorded in his office, but the lawyer denies any connection with the PSOE. During that meeting, Leire Díez suggested to Hamlyn to leave his lawyer, José Antonio Choclán, also De Aldama's defender, to entrust his defence to Teijelo. This lawyer—who has defended drug lord Sito Miñanco and the woman used to record a sexual tape with journalist Pedro J. Ramírez—has denounced the seriousness of private conversations being disseminated from a legal office.

He is the main target the alleged 'plumbers' aim to take down. He is the Lieutenant Colonel of the Civil Guard who heads the Economic Crime and Anti-Corruption Department, the most complex and extensive section of the Central Operational Unit. His team leads the most sensitive investigations for the PSOE (cases concerning Begoña Gómez, David Sánchez, former minister José Luis Ábalos, the Attorney General, or the hydrocarbon fraud network). Before becoming head of the UCO's economic department in 2020, Balas led the operation that brought down Hamlyn. The Basque businessman, according to the audios, has since dedicated himself to meticulously gathering supposed evidence against him. Since taking over the elite unit's section during the pandemic, Balas has become a scourge of corruption in Spain. But he was also a key figure in cases against the PP ('Púnica', 'Lezo', or 'Erial') and others implicating the PSOE, such as the Andalusian EREs.

Leire Díez allegedly offered several media outlets a sexual video of José Grinda, the anti-corruption prosecutor heavily criticised by the PSOE's circles, but especially by Junts, as he led the so-called 3% case involving public works commissions. He also instructed the 'Zed case' in which Pérez Dolset is implicated, a participant in the videoconference with Hamlyn. On May 9, Madrid's Investigating Court No. 39 opened an investigation for breach of secrets regarding that video about Grinda.

Juan Vicente Bonilla, captain of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, was the first to follow the trail of Koldo García's suspicious activities after a tip-off from an informant. On October 31, 2023, already on leave, he was appointed manager of the Corporate Security Directorate of the Community of Madrid, presided over by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, with an annual salary of 84,000 euros. In the videoconference with Hamlyn, Pérez Dolset stated: "There are several targets of interest here. Not just Balas. Balas, Bonilla, Grinda," the businessman specified, listing the "three or four people, at most" they intended to attack with "a surgical operation with very few cuts, to be able to dismantle the entire network." The socialists are trying to shift the focus towards Bonilla due to his connection with the Madrid administration.

The alleged ringleader of the corrupt plot affecting the PSOE, which has led to José Luis Ábalos, former right-hand man of Sánchez, being charged before the Supreme Court, had already revealed the names of those involved in the supposed 'plumbing' plot of Ferraz before the audios emerged. His shadow looms over the entire universe of leaks. "We already knew about these people's practices," said the facilitator of the network surrounding Ábalos and Koldo García, referring to Díez's meeting. He claimed they had "baited" the PSOE militant. He also warned that more audios "saying outrageous things, involving the president of this country and the current director of the Civil Guard" will be made public.

He is the lawyer for Víctor de Aldama and also, for now, for Alejandro Hamlyn, although the Basque businessman, in the videoconference from Dubai, expressed doubts about continuing with him. Díez claimed in that conversation that this lawyer could leak sensitive data. "Any information you give to Choclán will reach the other side in 30 seconds," she asserted. Choclán, an expert in deals with the Prosecutor's Office, was the architect of the major agreement with Anti-Corruption to secure the release of De Aldama by National Court Judge Santiago Pedraz in November, accused of defrauding tens of millions of euros in a hydrocarbon plot. The deal was made despite not having returned a single euro to the public coffers and not yet providing irrefutable evidence in the 'Koldo-Ábalos' plot.

The Secretary of Organisation of the PSOE, identified by Víctor de Aldama as a recipient of commissions for awarding contracts, has been placed by the facilitator at the top of this alleged corrupt 'plumbing' operation of Ferraz. De Aldama claimed this week that Leire Díez is a militant of "Santos Cerdán's utmost confidence and is used for all kinds of extortions." Businessman Pérez Dolset stated in the aforementioned video that Cerdán, like Sánchez himself, was aware of this alleged operation against the UCO. However, the PSOE's number three maintains that Díez "is a militant who has nothing to do with Ferraz or the organisation."

Leire Díez met at least twice in March with the commander of the Civil Guard's anti-terrorist services, Rubén Villalba, charged in the National Court for the 'Koldo case', accused of working for Víctor de Aldama and receiving payments from him for, among other reasons, consulting databases or informing him about UCO investigations. According to El Mundo, Díez offered Villalba, who is currently suspended, reinstatement in the Civil Guard in exchange for sensitive information about the "subversive elements" within the force. The records Villalba kept of those meetings have ended up in the press.

Arturo Espejo, former Chief of the Support Command, was a Lieutenant Colonel of the Civil Guard with an extensive career in the force, particularly in anti-terrorism efforts. Hamlyn claimed in the videoconference that Espejo currently works for him. "He was in anti-terrorism and cybersecurity (…). He is now the head of security for my company. He is no longer active, he is retired and now works for me. He is helping a lot," boasted the Basque businessman.