Spanish PM denies rampant graft after ex-top aide jailed

MADRID (AFP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez dismissed allegations of “widespread corruption” against his Socialists Wednesday after an ex-top aide was jailed for a graft scandal that risks toppling the government.

A string of corruption investigations into relatives and former top political allies has jeopardized the position of Sanchez, viewed as a global left-wing hero for his clashes with U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel.

The Supreme Court sentenced Jose Luis Abalos, an ex-Socialist heavyweight who helped mastermind Sanchez’s rise to power in 2018, to 24 years in jail on Monday.

He had been convicted of pocketing lucrative kickbacks for health equipment contracts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sanchez, a canny politician famous for escaping seemingly hopeless positions, fended off opposition accusations of systemic corruption in an appearance before Parliament on Wednesday that he himself had requested.

“Certain actors in politics and the media are trying to mix, to put on the same level and therefore confuse people, to create a sensation of widespread corruption which … does not exist,” Sanchez said.

“I never knew about, nor would I have tolerated, any of these practices,” he said in reference to his former transport minister Abalos, denying that the Socialists profited from illegal funding.

On Saturday, a judge who has led a two-year-long investigation into his wife, Begona Gomez, ordered a jury trial for alleged influence peddling and the confiscation of her passport.

Sanchez condemned the probe for “precautionary measures that I believe… go beyond all reasonable limits”.

Gomez was due to surrender her passport to the court in Madrid later on Wednesday.

• Leftist hero in danger -

The Socialist, one of the few remaining leftist leaders in Europe, made the fight against corruption his watchword when he took power in 2018 after the main conservative Popular Party (PP) was convicted in its own graft affair.

But on top of the cases of his wife and Abalos, a verdict is due in the trial of his brother David for alleged irregularities in his appointment to a public-sector job.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Sanchez’s mentor and predecessor as Socialist prime minister, was placed under formal investigation last month for alleged influence peddling in connection with an airline bailout.

Sanchez, who is not targeted himself in any probe, has denounced the complaints against his relatives as a right-wing smear campaign to undermine his government and has backed Zapatero’s innocence.

“We are not infallible, but we will not make the mistake of staying silent or giving up,” Sanchez said Wednesday, once again vowing to see out his term until 2027.

“We still have a huge amount to do” on corruption, he acknowledged, while insisting that they had made “a lot of progress”.

PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo repeated demands for Sanchez’s resignation and early elections, saying it was “obvious” the minority coalition lacked parliament’s confidence.

Far-right firebrand Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain’s third-largest party Vox, thundered at Sanchez: “What are you doing sat there still? Do you not have an inkling of shame?”

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By ROBIN BIALON Agence France-Presse