Koldo confirmed that Sánchez used immigrants to deposit donations of 300 euros (330 dollars) and to finance his 2017 primary campaign.

The former ministerial adviser Koldo García has revealed in an exclusive interview a clandestine financing system that allegedly allowed Pedro Sánchez to regain the general secretariat of PSOE in 2017. According to his testimony, the internal campaign that brought Sánchez back to power was allegedly financed through the technique of donation splitting, known as "pitufeo": dividing large sums of cash into small deposits of 300 euros to evade legal controls and avoid raising suspicions.

""I had the money, I gave it to different people, and they deposited it in their own names"", García revealed, describing a mechanism he now acknowledges as irregular. He claims that he accepted funds in blocks of 1,000 or 2,000 euros, which he then distributed among third parties to deposit in a fragmented manner.

The most serious aspect is the origin of those who participated in this operation. Koldo states that he used not only PSOE members or sympathizers, but also immigrants "Romanians, Moroccans, and Hispanic Americans," individuals outside the party to whom he handed over the cash so they could deposit it for him. The objective: discreetly inflate the campaign's income and avoid banking traceability.

Regarding the total amount mobilized, although he acknowledges not having exact figures, he points out that within the party apparatus there was talk of a volume "close to a million" euros. García asserts that he did not belong to the formal financial control area, but rather acted as a direct channel for the money.

These revelations reopen a debate that was never fully settled: the real degree of transparency in the primaries that brought Sánchez back to the leadership of PSOE, a process that at the time was presented as a "grassroots" triumph, but now appears linked to opaque financial practices and a parallel fundraising structure.

Meanwhile, as details of the irregular financing of the primaries emerge, another critical chapter of Spanish socialism erupts: Supreme Court judge Leopoldo Puente ordered the pretrial detention without bail of former minister José Luis Ábalos and his former adviser, Koldo García himself, over the case of masks awarded during the pandemic.

The decision—motivated by an "extreme flight risk"—marks a historic event: this is the first time that a sitting member of parliament will enter prison.

Until now, both had been under mild precautionary measures: prohibition from leaving the country, passport withdrawal, and biweekly court appearances. However, the proximity of the trial and the possibility of facing up to 30 years in prison led the magistrate to drastically toughen their procedural situation.

The anti-corruption prosecutor, Alejandro Luzón, was forceful: the seriousness of the charges and the requested sentences make pretrial detention inevitable. He even pointed out that having belonged to a government "doesn't exempt from criminal responsibility": ""No branch of the State has the right to evade criminal prosecution... that's why Justice is represented with a blindfold over its eyes"".

Ábalos arrived at the Supreme Court at 9:12, alone, with a brown leather backpack and without making any statements. Inside the court, he requested to speak in order to defend his right to remain free: ""I have no money and nowhere to go"". According to judicial sources, he appeared "devastated," nervously smoking while awaiting the decision.

His defense argued political and institutional ties, and even accused the Prosecutor's Office of wanting to pressure him into making a "collaborative statement," in the style of businessman Víctor de Aldama—considered the "fixer" of the scheme—who confessed after spending weeks in prison.

Koldo, on the other hand, arrived on time, accompanied by his lawyer and carrying a large backpack. He claimed to have family ties: "an elderly mother and a young daughter". He also requested to speak: ""I'm not going anywhere... We all have the right to learn little by little"". A phrase that, according to those present, sounded like an implicit acknowledgment of mistakes.

On November 3, the Supreme Court proposed to try Ábalos, Koldo, and Aldama for the alleged collection of commissions linked to the awarding of health contracts during the Covid-19 emergency. The Prosecutor's Office requests:

24 years in prison for Ábalos

19 and a half years for Koldo

A fine of 3.9 million euros

And charges of criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling, embezzlement, and use of privileged information

The popular accusations go even further: they request 30 years in prison, adding charges of malfeasance and forgery. For Aldama, they request seven years, with a mitigating factor for "confession."