Spain's ex-transport minister sentenced to 24 years for corruption

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's former transport minister, Jose Luis Abalos, was sentenced on Monday to 24 years in prison for a slew of offences involving corruption, the first verdict in a series of court cases linked to the ruling Socialist Party.

The unusually long sentence reflected the accumulation of felonies committed, including kickbacks from facemask purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the damage to public trust caused by a minister of Abalos' rank breaching the rules, according to the Supreme Court's verdict.

"A society that perceives that those in positions of power act guided by private interests, or interests unrelated to public service... experiences a loss of institutional legitimacy, which compromises the stability of the system itself," the verdict read.

Nevertheless, the effective time Abalos will serve is capped under Spanish law at around 16-1/2 years, the court said.

The sentence comes as more than a dozen people close to the prime minister are being investigated or tried for corruption, including his wife and brother and an influential former Socialist premier.

To date, none of the cases has named Sanchez, who came to power eight years ago by ousting a corruption-plagued centre-right government on the promise of cleaning up politics.

Asked about the sentence, a government official said the government believed in "transparency, merit, and integrity" and "regrets and unequivocally condemns behaviour that has clearly violated those principles."

RENEWED CALL FOR ELECTIONS

Public concern over corruption is far below what it was 10 years ago, but polls show it is moving upwards in voters' classification of the country's top problems, said Luis Cornago-Bonal, a political scientist at the London School of Economics and advisor at consultancy Teneo.

"With allegations now hanging over the government and the opposition, the risk is that Spain drifts into a prolonged phase of public discontent and deeper polarization," he added.

Monday's ruling renewed calls from the opposition for Sanchez to step down and call an election, an option the government has ruled out taking before its term ends in August 2027.

The opposition does not at present have the support for a no-confidence motion.

"The prime minister of the government is responsible for the actions of his ministers," Alberto Feijoo, leader of the conservative Partido Popular, said in a statement from his party's Madrid headquarters.

In its verdict, Spain's Supreme Court found evidence of corruption in the awarding of a contract for 13 million facemasks to a companies linked to businessman Victor de Aldama.

De Aldama pled guilty over the channeling of illicit commissions and received a suspended 4-1/2-year sentence.

The court also uncovered monthly payments of €10,000 ($11,434) to Abalos for "fixed expenses" and the hiring of two of his associates in public companies, one of whom had their housing costs covered.

($1 = 0.8746 euros)