Alex Trelinski
A CORRUPTION investigation was announced on Thursday into a key ally of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez over contracts for the purchase of face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Supreme Court is probing Jose Luis Abalos, who was transport minister between 2018 and 2021, for corruption, syphoning off funds and misusing his position, a court statement said.
The scandal is politically sensitive for Sanchez, who has been accused by opposition parties of knowing what went on and instigating a cover up.
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Abalos, a former member of Sanchez’s inner circle, is accused of taking part in a corruption ring involving contracts for the purchase of masks and sanitary equipment between March and June 2020.
The court said the investigation must determine whether the former minister was involved in this alleged corruption network, adding that police had already gathered evidence implicating him.
A court document states that Abalos may have received ‘financial compensation’ for his services in the form of a house in Cadiz province- offered by the company that received the medical equipment contracts.
The same company also allegedly paid the rent for a flat in Madrid to a woman with whom the former minister ‘was apparently linked’, according to the document.
Abalos, who Sanchez removed from office in July 2021, was expelled from the PSOE socialist party in February when the affair broke.
He still sits as an independent member of Congress in Madrid.
