Mercasa acknowledges contract rigging favoring Santos Cerdán's construction firm

Mercasa’s recent internal report admits serious irregularities in a 2021 contract awarded to Servinabar 2000 SL, a construction company in which former PSOE secretary of Organization Santos Cerdán held a 45% stake. The contract, intended to produce a technical assessment of Mercasa’s central offices in Madrid, was classified as a minor procurement but appears to have been pre-selected before the formal bidding process.

The audit highlights that Mercasa’s documentation does not show any actual requests for quotations sent to the two other firms that were supposedly invited to compete. Leire Díez, a prominent PSOE operative, recorded multiple entries about Mercasa and the contract in her agenda, linking her to the case. The audit has been submitted to judge Santiago Pedraz of the Audiencia Nacional, who is probing the involvement of Cerdán, Díez, and the owner of Servinabar in a broader scheme of alleged commission-seeking and contract manipulation.