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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday rejected allegations of widespread corruption within the ruling Socialist Party, following the imprisonment of a former senior ally in a corruption case that has intensified pressure on his government.
The controversy deepened after the Supreme Court sentenced former transport minister and influential Socialist figure Jose Luis Abalos to 24 years in prison for accepting kickbacks linked to Covid-19 medical supply contracts.
Addressing parliament, Sanchez accused political opponents and sections of the media of attempting to portray isolated cases as evidence of systemic corruption within his party.
The prime minister insisted he had no knowledge of the illegal activities attributed to Abalos and maintained that the Socialist Party had not benefited from unlawful funding.
Sanchez acknowledged that mistakes could occur in politics but stressed that his administration would continue confronting wrongdoing rather than ignoring it.
“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.
“We are not infallible, but we will not make the mistake of staying silent or giving up.”
The corruption scandal is one of several investigations involving people close to the prime minister.
Last week, 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 criticised the probe, arguing that some of the measures taken against his wife were excessive.
His brother, David Sanchez, is also awaiting a verdict in a separate case concerning alleged irregularities in his appointment to a public-sector position in the southwestern province of Badajoz.
Adding to the pressure, former prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, a mentor to Sanchez, was recently placed under formal investigation over allegations of influence peddling linked to an airline bailout.
Sanchez rose to power in 2018 on an anti-corruption platform after the conservative Popular Party was implicated in a major graft scandal.
Although opposition parties have called for his resignation and fresh elections, the Socialist leader has repeatedly stated that he intends to remain in office until the end of his term in 2027.
