Supreme Court Investigates Allegations of Audio Manipulation in High-Profile Case

The magistrate of the Supreme Court, Leopoldo Puente, has called upon experts from the Civil Guard and the authors of a significant report submitted by former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, on December 11. The purpose of this summons is to ascertain whether the audio recordings seized from former ministerial advisor, Koldo García, have been manipulated. This step follows discrepancies between two reports issued by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard and the analysis conducted by Cerdán. In July, the Supreme Court had dismissed any implications of manipulation related to these critical recordings, which played a pivotal role in the UCO report leading to Cerdán's provisional imprisonment, during which he spent five months in custody before being released. However, a defense expert's report has cast doubt on the integrity of the recordings, suggesting they may have been altered. According to this study, since a frame-by-frame analysis was not performed, it cannot be definitively stated that no alterations, edits, or external insertions have occurred within the recordings. This situation has prompted magistrate Puente to summon four Civil Guard experts from the Criminalistics Service who produced the initial reports on the audio files. They are expected to appear on the 11th at 10:00 and 11:00 AM, while two experts representing Cerdán's defense are scheduled for 12:00 PM. Judge Puente emphasized the necessity of hearing explanations from both sets of experts to clarify and complement the assessments of their analyses. This procedure aims to evaluate, even in a preliminary manner, the concerns raised about the authenticity and integrity of the audio files in question. Furthermore, the judge highlighted the importance of determining whether the conversations contained within these audio files were recorded directly on the devices from which they were seized or if they originated from other sources that could have been recorded onto them later. Establishing the authenticity of these files is crucial to ruling out the possibility of any manipulation, cutting, or editing that may have occurred. As the investigation unfolds, the scrutiny of these audio recordings holds significant implications for the case and for Cerdán, whose legal status hinges on the evidence presented by these recordings. Related Sources: • Source 1 • Source 2