cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/8670944
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez headed a criminal organisation that rigged public contracts and illegally funded his Socialist party, a defendant in a trial that has threatened the government told a court.
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The trial of Sánchez’s former right-hand man, José Luis Ábalos, is just one of several investigations into alleged corruption by the Socialist premier’s family and ex-political allies that have rocked his fragile minority coalition.
Ábalos, a former transport minister and Socialist heavyweight who helped propel Sánchez to power in 2018, is accused of earning kickbacks for the irregular awarding of contracts for face masks at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“If there is a hierarchy in this case,” Sánchez “was at level one,” followed by Ábalos and García, said Aldama, who had already levelled such accusations at the prime minister.
“Thank you very much for everything, I know exactly what you are doing and I just wanted to thank you,” Aldama quoted Sánchez as telling him during an encounter.
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Prosecutors are seeking 24 years in jail for Ábalos on charges including bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling and membership of a criminal organisation.