MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday dismissed allegations of “widespread corruption” against his Socialists 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 US 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 for pocketing lucrative kickbacks for health equipment contracts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sanchez, a canny politician famous for escaping seemingly hopeless positions, fended off accusations from the conservative and far-right opposition that systemic corruption had gripped his party.
“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 told parliament.
