The Supreme Court has decided to bring corruption charges against Spain's former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos, who has also been one of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's close associates.
Ábalos is accused primarily of receiving money in exchange for favorable procurement of face masks during the Covid pandemic.
In February 2024, a scheme was revealed in which a small company had been awarded procurements worth the equivalent of more than half a billion kronor – and responsible buyers are suspected of having received commissions worth tens of millions.
Promised new moves
José Luis Ábalos sat in the lower house of the Spanish Congress and was also party secretary in the ruling left-wing party PSOE when the crimes were committed.
The ex-minister is being prosecuted along with two other people. He has also been kicked out of the party, but his replacement as party secretary, Santos Cerdan, has since been sentenced to prison for accepting bribes himself.
The PSOE defends itself against accusations that corruption is rooted in the party apparatus. Party leader and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took office in 2018 with promises to deal with dirty money in the state apparatus, when the previous right-wing government was ousted in the wake of a series of corruption scandals.
At a five-hour Senate hearing last week, Sánchez insisted that his party’s money is “totally clean.” Sánchez’s wife and brother have also been the subject of targeted investigations that have rocked the prime minister’s reign, but he has remained in office and angrily disputed them.
Unique trial
In a separate case, Spain's Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz is on trial for leaking classified and politically sensitive information, a court hearing that began on Monday.
The information concerned the partner of one of the opposition's leading figures, Madrid Region President Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
It is the first time in Spain that a serving prosecutor has faced trial, but García Ortiz denies all charges. The official was nominated to his post by the current government and the prime minister has repeatedly expressed his support for him.
