{"id":14096,"date":"2026-04-29T19:12:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/14096\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T19:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T19:12:24","slug":"spains-pm-was-at-level-one-in-scheme-to-rig-public-contracts-defendant-in-graft-case-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/14096\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain’s PM ‘was at level one’ in scheme to rig public contracts, defendant in graft case says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez headed a criminal organisation that rigged public contracts and illegally funded his Socialist party, a defendant in a trial that has threatened the government told a court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The trial of S\u00e1nchez’s former right-hand man, Jos\u00e9 Luis \u00c1balos, is just one of several investigations into alleged corruption by the Socialist premier’s family and ex-political allies that have rocked his fragile minority coalition.<\/p>\n

\u00c1balos, a former transport minister and Socialist heavyweight who helped propel S\u00e1nchez to power in 2018, is accused of earning kickbacks for the irregular awarding of contracts for face masks at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say \u00c1balos abused his position in government to allow businessman V\u00edctor de Aldama to land the lucrative contracts, with ex-adviser Koldo Garc\u00eda acting as an intermediary.<\/p>\n

\u00c1balos and Garc\u00eda have consistently denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

Aldama, who was released from custody before the trial after cooperating with the investigation, told the court that some of the profits from the scheme funded the Socialists.<\/p>\n

\"Spain's<\/p>\n

Spain’s Minister for Transportation Jos\u00e9 Luis \u00c1balos, centre, attends a meeting of EU transport ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels, 2 December, 2019 – AP Photo <\/p>\n

“If there is a hierarchy in this case,” S\u00e1nchez “was at level one,” followed by \u00c1balos and Garc\u00eda, said Aldama, who had already levelled such accusations at the prime minister.<\/p>\n

“Thank you very much for everything, I know exactly what you are doing and I just wanted to thank you,” Aldama quoted S\u00e1nchez as telling him during an encounter.<\/p>\n

Aldama said he was surprised by the “closeness” of the prime minister and Garc\u00eda. He told the court \u00c1balos’ former adviser said S\u00e1nchez “owes me a lot and he knows why.”<\/p>\n

Aldama finished testifying on Wednesday after more than six hours on the stand.<\/p>\n

The trial is expected to resume on Thursday at 10:00 am local time.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez has always denied illegal financing of the Socialist party.<\/p>\n

Senior Socialist official Rebeca Torro slammed Aldama’s “slander” on X, saying that he “has turned lies into his defence strategy. It’s been two years now of accusing without evidence.”<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

Succession of scandals<\/p>\n

Prosecutors are seeking 24 years in jail for \u00c1balos on charges including bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling and membership of a criminal organisation.<\/p>\n

\u00c1balos allegedly received cash and favours he used to finance a sumptuous lifestyle, including family holidays and a luxury Madrid flat for his now ex-partner.<\/p>\n

Since the trial began on 7 April, dozens of witnesses have been questioned about alleged wrongdoing, including the movement of cash in envelopes and the appointment of \u00c1balos’ ex-lover to fake jobs in public companies.<\/p>\n

\"Spain's<\/p>\n

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez and his wife Bego\u00f1a G\u00f3mez at Tsinghua University in Beijing, 13 April, 2026 – AP Photo <\/p>\n

Proceedings are scheduled to end on Thursday but reaching a sentence may take months.<\/p>\n

The case has damaged S\u00e1nchez, who came to power vowing to clean up Spanish politics after the main conservative Popular Party (PP) was convicted in its own graft affair.<\/p>\n

After removing \u00c1balos from the powerful post of Socialist organisation secretary, S\u00e1nchez picked a successor, Santos Cerd\u00e1n, who is also under investigation for alleged corruption in public contracts.<\/p>\n

The Socialists’ turmoil has rocked relations with their far-left junior coalition partner Sumar and an array of fringe and regional separatist parties whose support is essential to pass legislation.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez’s wife, Bego\u00f1a G\u00f3mez, could go on trial for allegedly exploiting her position for private gain, in an investigation that has lasted two years and dominated headlines.<\/p>\n

\"Spanish<\/p>\n

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez attends a session of parliament in Madrid, 9 July, 2025 – AP Photo <\/p>\n

His brother, David S\u00e1nchez, will face trial in May on suspicion of being irregularly appointed to a local government post.<\/p>\n

The PP and far-right opposition party Vox say the accumulation of scandals has exposed systemic Socialist corruption that reaches S\u00e1nchez himself, demanding his resignation and early elections.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez has rebuffed the calls and plans to see out his term until the next scheduled general election in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez headed a criminal organisation that rigged public contracts and illegally funded his Socialist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8378,8379,8375,205,8377,8380,8376,17,3566],"class_list":{"0":"post-14096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-alleged-corruption","9":"tag-criminal-organisation","10":"tag-jose-luis-abalos","11":"tag-pedro-sanchez","12":"tag-public-contracts","13":"tag-senior-socialist","14":"tag-socialist-party","15":"tag-spain","16":"tag-spanish-prime-minister"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}