A Supreme Court ruling underscores that corruption erodes public trust and threatens Spain’s democratic foundations, amid broader investigations involving figures linked to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, including family members and party officials.

Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, faces corruption and influence-peddling allegations, and has been deemed a flight risk with passport confiscation orders.

The court emphasized that public trust damage from the case endangers the state’s democratic structure.

Allegations portray Víctor de Aldama as orchestrating deals to skim profits, with claimed proceeds of around 3.7 million euros, while Ábalos allegedly drew a monthly 10,000 euro salary plus rents for properties, and a separate 2 million euro payment was claimed (not found by investigators).

Ex-ministerial aide Koldo García and political ally Ábalos were sentenced to lengthy terms, with Aldama receiving a suspended sentence after admitting crimes, all tied to the alleged criminal network.

Judgment characterizes the trio as forming a criminal organization engaged in corruption, embezzlement, and influence-peddling, with Aldama given a substantial cooperation-based reduction.

Aldama, the businessman at the center of the case, was jailed but received a suspended sentence and will not be required to return the €3.7 million in commissions from mask procurements.

Prosecutors argued that Ábalos and García leveraged their government roles to steer pandemic PPE contracts and illicit commissions.

Ábalos stood as a central PSOE power broker during Sánchez’s rise, while Sánchez denies knowledge of the alleged fraud and rejects links between the trio and party funding.

The reporting is by Le Monde, with AFP as the source.

The piece notes Le Figaro via AFP and mentions accompanying links and ongoing coverage.

Defendants faced charges including bribery, influence-peddling, misappropriation, organized crime, illicit use of privileged information, forgery, and prevarication.