<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The President of the Government Pedro Sánchez has apologized to the public following the resignation of PSOE organizational secretary Santos Cerdán for his alleged involvement in the Koldo scandal. He also announced an external audit of the party to "eliminate any shadow of doubt" and asserted that no elections will be called "until 2027."</strong></h4> "The reason for this appearance is to provide explanations after learning of the report by the UCO investigating the case against Ábalos and Koldo García," Sánchez stated at an urgently convened press conference at the PSOE headquarters in Ferraz (Madrid). "I am doing this to apologize to the public," he continued. "I want to apologize because until this morning I was convinced of Santos Cerdán's integrity. It's true that, for weeks and months, rumors circulated about alleged ongoing investigations, but the truth is that there was no evidence of his involvement in the so-called Koldo case," he added. "This morning, those indications emerged; they are clearly serious, very serious. Throughout this afternoon, I have asked Cerdán to resign with immediate effect, to resign from his position as a member of parliament, and for that, I want to apologize to the public." "The PSOE shouldn't have trusted him," he admitted. According to Sánchez, on matters of corruption, "there must be zero tolerance." "In addition to calling for his resignation, I want to announce that, despite the positive reports from the PSOE's Court of Auditors, I will launch an external audit and, in preparation for the Federal Committee, I will promote a federal reorganization," he announced. "The PSOE's accounts are available to the Court of Auditors and the reports have always been positive," but "we are going to conduct this external audit to eliminate any shadow of doubt that the public may have," he stated. Regarding the UCO report, the President of the Government acknowledged that he "was completely unaware of it." "It may be surprising, but this is a government that respects the work of the state's security forces, unlike in the past, and it was the media that learned about it earlier than in my case, which I learned about this morning," he added. "Regardless of the judicial outcome of the report, the indications from the Civil Guard are already a huge disappointment," he added. This, he asserted, "the response will always be resounding, regardless of the enormous disappointment I have experienced." According to Sánchez, "this Government is quite clearly under siege from the opposition on a multitude of issues that have nothing to do with reality, and when the Government and PSOE find evidence that could be substantive in legal cases like the one that brought us together today, the PSOE acts." "The reality is that there are political organizations that act and react, and others that protect and conceal," he denounced. "This also happened with information about how the previous PP administration persecuted the police officers who were investigating its corruption," he added. Regarding the possible resignation of the Government and an early election, Pedro Sánchez stated that "no elections will be called until 2027. This is not about me or the PSOE exclusively. It is about a political project that is doing good things for the country, with democratic regeneration and economic transformation, and its model of coexistence, which, today more than ever, is necessary." "Spain needs stability, certainty, to continue with social transformations, defend our model at home and abroad, and apologize for this enormous disappointment," he added.
