The first trial linked to corruption in Pedro Sánchez’s government concluded Wednesday at the Supreme Court. Chief anti-corruption prosecutor Alejandro Luzón spent one hour and forty minutes denouncing a criminal organization that operated from the Ministry of Transport.
Luzón described a network of bribes and influence peddling that included mask contracts, public-sector jobs and monthly payments of 10,000 euros. He called the corruption “organic, organized and sustained” and said it “is eating away at our democratic system.”
José Luis Ábalos and his former aide Koldo García used their right to the last word. Ábalos portrayed himself as the victim of a predetermined “general cause” and denied any wrongdoing in two contracts. Koldo García said he only wanted to “help” and declared himself “destroyed.”
Businessman Víctor de Aldama, accused of paying the bribes, received the prosecutor’s backing for a possible further sentence reduction due to his cooperation. Court president Concepción Arrieta closed the trial at 21:23 with the words “visto para sentencia.”
