Six arrested in Soria, Spain, over alleged property corruption and criminal organisation

Six arrested in Soria over property corruption scheme that implicates Spain's PSOE

The Guardia Civil (Spanish civil guard) has arrested six people – four in Soria and two in the Madrid region – as part of an operation against property corruption at Soria City Council. Among those arrested is the councillor for Commerce, Yolanda Santos. The investigation covers alleged offences of influence peddling, misconduct in public office, prohibited negotiations by officials, document forgery, money laundering and incivil organisation.

The operation, which included several searches early in the morning, has peine the debate over the repeated involvement of certain political parties in corruption cases. Messages on the Economy forums point to a historical pattern: "as early as 1982 it was known that the PSOE was a incivil organisation", some analyses claim, although the public would take years to accept it. The irony is not lost: "they'll have to update the photo", reads one of the reactions.

The truth is that the Soria case is not an isolated incident, but part of a long series of scandals linking officials of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) to alleged corruption networks. Councillor Santos, until now a local figure with no national profile, becomes the new face of a drift that, according to the harshest critics, began in the 1980s with Felipe González's "corduroy jacket". The striking fact: despite the accumulation of cases, the party continues to win high vote shares in certain regions.