The Central Operational Unit of Spain’s Guardia Civil has placed the Basque Nationalist Party, known as the PNV, under scrutiny in connection with the public rescue package granted to Tubos Reunidos. The operation, worth 112.8 million euros and approved by SEPI in 2021, appears in the investigation led by Judge Santiago Pedraz as part of a broader inquiry into alleged influence peddling around state-backed business bailouts.
According to the reports cited by Libertad Digital and Vozpópuli, investigators found messages from the Hirurok group that refer to possible contacts with the PNV to help move forward the Tubos Reunidos file. In those communications, the people under investigation linked the alleged conversations with Basque nationalist figures to the speed with which the rescue package was later approved.
The UCO report states that the Tubos Reunidos case was brought again before the FASEE Management Council on July 13, 2021, when it ultimately received approval. Before that decision, the intercepted messages reportedly discussed the need to know the PNV’s position regarding the obstacles facing the process, including objections attributed to the area of the State Secretariat for Economy.
The inquiry also draws attention to Antxon Alonso, a business associate of Santos Cerdán at Servinabar, along with Leire Díez and Vicente Fernández, the former president of SEPI. The case file suggests that they were ostensibly involved in actions related to the bailout of Tubos Reunidos and received an estimated commission of about 115,000 euros for their alleged role.
After the public aid was approved, Tubos Reunidos signed a contract on December 1, 2021, with Mediaciones Martínez, a company connected to Antxon Alonso. The agreement included annual payments of 60,000 euros for advisory and business development services, although the UCO maintains that these amounts may have actually been compensation for the work carried out during the bailout process.
The case also affects the former leadership of the PNV due to meetings held with representatives of Tubos Reunidos and people linked to the alleged network under investigation. According to the cited documentation, Andoni Ortuzar, then president of the party, and Joseba Aurrekoetxea, its head of Organization, attended a meeting on January 28, 2025, with company executives and Vicente Fernández.
That meeting was said to be part of a later phase of actions involving Tubos Reunidos, centered on an effort to defer a 10 million euro payment to SEPI, and the UCO notes that the request moved rapidly, receiving internal approvals between March 21 and March 25, 2025 and earning a favorable recommendation from the FASEE Business Committee on March 28.
The revelations have stirred discomfort within the PNV, and party sources cited by Vozpópuli concede that the matter is delicate, noting that the current leadership intends to distance the organization’s present direction from the interactions held while Ortuzar was in charge, aiming to assign political responsibility for those meetings to the former president while shielding Aitor Esteban’s role.
The internal tension arises amid ongoing debate over the PNV’s ties to Pedro Sánchez. A group aligned with Basque premier Imanol Pradales is reportedly concerned that sustained backing for the PSOE might undermine the Basque nationalists’ electoral outlook, especially as EH Bildu strengthens its position and the central government confronts intensifying scrutiny over corruption scandals surrounding its political sphere.
Despite that pressure, Vozpópuli reports that the PNV leadership does not currently plan to break with Sánchez or support a move by the PP against the government. The party would maintain its alliance with the PSOE because of both national political calculations and the institutional balance in the Basque Country, where Socialist support remains essential for the regional government.
The Tubos Reunidos case has therefore become a new source of political pressure for the PNV, which is trying to contain the impact of the UCO’s references while avoiding a rupture with Spain’s central government. The ongoing judicial investigation will determine the real scope of the alleged contacts, the role of the intermediaries, and the extent to which political figures may have influenced the approval of public aid.
Origin: Libertad Digital and Vozpópuli.
