The figure of Susana Sumelzo, currently Secretary of State for Ibero-America and one of the Socialist leaders historically close to Pedro Sánchez, has in just a few days gone from institutional discretion to the eye of the media storm. Various press reports have focused on public contracts awarded to companies linked to her family and on her connections with companies under investigation in the so-called “Koldo case” and the alleged network surrounding Santos Cerdán, which has reignited the debate on possible conflicts of interest in the Prime Minister’s inner circle.
Who is Susana Sumelzo and what part does she play in “sanchismo”?
Susana Sumelzo Jordán (Zaragoza, 1969) is a veteran PSOE leader. She has served as senator and member of parliament for Zaragoza for more than a decade and, since December 2023, has held the post of Secretary of State for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and for Spanish in the World, under 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 immediate source of the controversy lies in public works contracts awarded to the Aragonese construction firm Sumelzo S.A., linked to the Secretary of State’s father and brother. According to information published by The Objective, the company has received, since Sánchez’s arrival at La Moncloa and through the Ebro River Basin Authority and other bodies reporting to Socialist-led ministries, contracts totalling around 16 million euros in recent years, most of them during Teresa Ribera’s tenure at the Ministry for Ecological Transition.
The contracts range from adaptation and maintenance works on irrigation canals to major projects such as the Valdeliberola collector, with a budget of 10 million euros, whose award ultimately went to Sumelzo S.A. after the contract was withdrawn from a different company that had initially won the tender.
The Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard has put Sumelzo S.A. under investigation following the discovery of a 12,100-euro payment to Servinabar —a company reportedly utilized by Santos Cerdán and his associate Antxon Alonso to funnel commissions related to the face-mask scheme and various other contracts— during a period that aligns with substantial awards to the family construction business.
Overlapping headquarters and family companies in investigated schemes
The controversy is compounded by other “corporate coincidences” revealed by media outlets such as El Debate, El Español and Esdiario. On the one hand, investigative reports indicate that Sumelzo S.A.’s headquarters in Zaragoza are in the same building as Soluciones de Gestión S.L., a key company in the face-mask scheme linked to former minister José Luis Ábalos and the Koldo case.
In addition, it is reported that a business owned by either Susana Sumelzo’s father or a cousin shared its registered office with Servinabar, the company of Santos Cerdán, which is currently being investigated for allegedly receiving kickbacks in public contracts.
These intersections in registered addresses and business connections have emerged as a key point for those discussing a business “ecosystem” surrounding Sumelzo’s family, which has gained from choices made by administrations led by the PSOE. Nevertheless, currently, the investigations are concentrated on the companies and individuals like Cerdán and his associates, rather than on the Secretary of State personally.
The political analysis: stress on Moncloa and the “circle of trust” storyline
Politically, this case emerges at a moment when Pedro Sánchez’s Government is already enduring significant repercussions from other corruption inquiries involving individuals in his circle, such as the Koldo case, investigations into contracts granted during the pandemic, and the cases initiated concerning the professional endeavors 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 thus adds to the list of fronts eroding the image of integrity of the PSOE and Sánchez’s Government, in a context of growing public distrust towards institutions and increasing demands for transparency in the ties between politics and business.
For the moment, the solution is found in three components:
- 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.
