The SEPI strand of the Leire case also involves María Teresa Castillo Pasalodos, who previously served as Director of Corporate Development and Institutional Relations at Mercasa, a state-owned enterprise with majority ownership held by SEPI. Her position as an investigated party brings renewed scrutiny to one of the most delicate aspects within Spain’s public business landscape: the potential exploitation of official roles, institutional connections, and privileged knowledge to influence public determinations benefiting particular agendas.
Mercasa is not a secondary company within the state apparatus. It is a public company linked to the network of wholesale markets and the management of strategic food infrastructure. Therefore, the fact that a former head of Corporate Development and Institutional Relations appears among those under investigation in a case involving alleged manipulation of public companies increases the political and institutional gravity of the case.
Judge Santiago Pedraz has called upon Castillo Pasalodos to appear, as she forms part of a broader investigation encompassing 25 individuals connected to the SEPI matter. The inquiry centers on examining potential violations including influence peddling, malfeasance in public office, embezzlement, participation in criminal organizations or groups, and misuse of privileged information. While the presumption of innocence remains fully intact for the investigated party at this juncture, her appearance before the court becomes essential to establish what involvement she may have held in the transactions under scrutiny.
According to published reports, the investigation connects Castillo Pasalodos with Mercasa and with activities surrounding contracts or corporate dealings that may have advantaged firms tied to the Hirurok group, the nucleus that investigators center on Leire Díez, Vicente Fernández, and Antxon Alonso. The UCO and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office are working to establish whether a web of relationships existed that could sway determinations made by state-owned enterprises and funnel financial gains via contracts, intermediaries, or reports.
One of the lines of inquiry concerns possible contracts awarded to Servinabar 2000, a company that the UCO considers linked to the investigated circle. The investigation also points to meetings, messages, emails, and internal documents related to the preparation of a technical report that may have been used to justify the relocation of Mercasa’s headquarters and pave the way for new real-estate transactions. This connection between internal reports, corporate decisions, and possible private benefits is one of the most sensitive aspects of the case.
The central suspicion is not merely that a questionable business decision was made, but whether that decision may have been prepared, conditioned, or facilitated by people with access to privileged information within Mercasa. From her position in Corporate Development and Institutional Relations, Castillo Pasalodos would have held a particularly relevant role for understanding contacts, internal strategies, relationships with third parties, and decisions with an economic impact.
The investigation will have to clarify whether her actions were merely administrative and professional or whether she played a more active role in the events under examination. It will also have to determine whether she knew the real purpose of the operations under suspicion, whether she facilitated documentation, whether she took part in contacts with other people under investigation, or whether her name appears in the case because of her position within Mercasa’s structure.
The gravity of this matter is intensified by the fact that Mercasa constitutes a component of Spain’s state public sector, with SEPI holding a 51% stake. Consequently, any concerns touching upon its administration have repercussions that extend beyond a single entity, affecting the broader governance framework applicable to state-controlled corporations. The emergence of a former executive from a public corporation within an inquiry concerning alleged manipulation renders a political dimension inescapable: did adequate safeguards exist to ensure that operational choices made by state-owned enterprises remained aligned with the public good rather than serving extraneous objectives?
The SEPI strand of the Leire case is drawing an unsettling map: senior officials, former executives, businesspeople, technical reports, public aid, contracts, and strategic companies under investigation. The presence of María Teresa Castillo Pasalodos on that list reinforces the impression that the case is not limited to an isolated episode, but is examining a broader network of relationships between the public, political, and private spheres.
The National Court will now be tasked with establishing whether María Teresa Castillo Pasalodos functioned as an active participant in the mechanism being scrutinized or if her involvement remained confined to routine operations at Mercasa. Nevertheless, her name has already become entangled in an inquiry that undermines the trustworthiness of state administration and demands transparent clarifications, political responsibility, and rigorous monitoring of entities under SEPI’s purview.
Source: El País, RTVE, Vozpópuli, Infobae, Artículo14, and Europa Press.
