The role of Susana Sumelzo, who is presently the Secretary of State for Ibero-America and a Socialist leader historically aligned with Pedro Sánchez, has swiftly transitioned from institutional discretion to being at the center of media attention. Numerous press articles have highlighted public contracts granted to firms associated with her family and her ties to companies under scrutiny in the so-called “Koldo case” and the alleged network involving Santos Cerdán, which has reignited the discussion on potential conflicts of interest within the Prime Minister’s inner circle.
Who is Susana Sumelzo and what role does she have in “sanchismo”?
Susana Sumelzo Jordán (Zaragoza, 1969) is an experienced leader of the PSOE. For more than a decade, she has served as both a senator and a parliament member representing Zaragoza. Since December 2023, she has held the role of Secretary of State for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and for Spanish in the World, within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Within the party, Sumelzo has been part of the federal executive and for years has been considered one of Pedro Sánchez’s “loyal lieutenants”, forming part of his inner circle of trust since the primaries that returned him to the general secretariat in 2017. Some media outlets and figures within the party already point to her as a special friend of Pedro Sánchez, with whom he may have had a romantic affair.
Contracts to the family company Sumelzo S.A. and the UCO’s scrutiny
The root of the controversy can be traced to public works contracts granted to the Aragonese construction company Sumelzo S.A., associated with the Secretary of State’s father and brother. As reported by The Objective, since Sánchez took office at La Moncloa, the company has secured contracts worth approximately 16 million euros in recent years through the Ebro River Basin Authority and other agencies under Socialist-led ministries, with the majority awarded during Teresa Ribera’s period at the Ministry for Ecological Transition.
The contracts encompass a variety of tasks, from the adaptation and upkeep of irrigation canals to significant undertakings like the Valdeliberola collector. This project, with a budget of 10 million euros, was ultimately awarded to Sumelzo S.A. after being retracted from another company that had originally secured the tender.
The Civil Guard’s Central Operational Unit (UCO) has launched an investigation into Sumelzo S.A. after uncovering a payment of 12,100 euros to Servinabar. This company is allegedly used by Santos Cerdán and his partner Antxon Alonso to channel commissions linked to the face-mask operation and several other contracts, coinciding with significant contracts awarded to the family construction firm.
Investigated schemes involve overlapping headquarters and family businesses
The controversy has been further fueled by additional “corporate coincidences” brought to light by media outlets such as El Debate, El Español, and Esdiario. On one hand, investigative reports disclose that Sumelzo S.A.’s headquarters in Zaragoza share the same building with Soluciones de Gestión S.L., a key company involved in the face-mask scheme linked to former minister José Luis Ábalos and the Koldo case.
In addition, a company belonging to Susana Sumelzo’s father or a cousin is said to have shared its registered office with Servinabar, the company of Santos Cerdán that is under investigation for allegedly taking kickbacks in public contracts.
These overlaps in registered addresses and business relationships have become a central argument for those who speak of a business “ecosystem” around Sumelzo’s family that has benefited from decisions taken by administrations governed by the PSOE. However, as of today, the investigations are focused on the companies and on figures such as Cerdán and his partners, not on the Secretary of State as an individual.
The political analysis: pressure on Moncloa and the “circle of trust” narrative
Politically, the case breaks out at a time when Pedro Sánchez’s Government is already bearing a considerable cost from other corruption investigations affecting figures in his entourage, such as the Koldo case, probes into contracts awarded during the pandemic and the cases opened in relation to the professional activities of his wife, Begoña Gómez.
Opposition parties and critical commentators are now portraying the reports concerning Sumelzo as part of a supposed “wider plan” of favors and contracts to companies associated with the President’s trusted circle, emphasizing that the Secretary of State is among his closest political allies and underscoring the amount of public works granted to the family construction company under Socialist administrations, both regional and national.
Yet another open question in the PSOE’s credibility crisis
The Sumelzo case, therefore, joins the array of issues that are undermining the PSOE and Sánchez’s Government’s reputation for integrity, amid a backdrop of rising public skepticism towards institutions and heightened calls for transparency in the connections between politics and business.
For now, the key lies in three elements:
- The evolution of investigations by the UCO and the National Court into the networks of public contracts in which companies linked to the Sumelzo family appear.
- Possible future judicial decisions, which could either narrow down responsibilities or, on the contrary, broaden the scope of the cases.
- The political response from Moncloa and the PSOE, both in terms of assuming responsibilities and in terms of reforms to mechanisms designed to prevent conflicts of interest.
In the meantime, Susana Sumelzo remains in her post and maintains that her political career is “completely independent” from her family’s business activities.
