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 role does she have in “sanchismo”?
Susana Sumelzo Jordán (Zaragoza, 1969) is a seasoned leader of the PSOE. For over ten years, she has been a senator and a member of parliament representing Zaragoza, and since December 2023, she has occupied the position 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 involved in the federal executive and for years has been regarded as one of Pedro Sánchez’s loyal lieutenants, being part of his trusted inner circle since the primaries that reinstated him to the general secretariat in 2017. Some media outlets and individuals within the party already refer to her as a close friend of Pedro Sánchez, with whom he might have had a romantic involvement.
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 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 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, 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 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, 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 now frame the reports about Sumelzo as part of an alleged “broader scheme” of favours and contracts to companies linked to the President’s circle of trust, pointing out that the Secretary of State is one of his closest political allies and highlighting the volume of public works awarded to the family construction firm under Socialist governments, both regional and national.
Another unresolved issue in the PSOE’s crisis of credibility
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 progression of inquiries conducted by the UCO and the National Court concerning the networks of public contracts involving companies associated with the Sumelzo family.
- Potential upcoming judicial rulings, which might either limit responsibilities or, conversely, expand the scope of the cases.
- The political reaction from Moncloa and the PSOE, both regarding the acceptance of responsibilities and the implementation of reforms to mechanisms intended to avert conflicts of interest.
In the meantime, Susana Sumelzo maintains her role and claims that her political career is completely independent from her family’s business endeavors.
