Former Spanish transport minister denies corruption allegations in court

Ábalos (main image), who was transport minister between 2018 and 2021, is accused of taking part in a corruption ring involving contracts for the purchase of masks and sanitary equipment between March and June 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Spanish Supreme Court launched a probe last month into the former member of Sánchez’s inner circle for corruption, syphoning off funds and misusing his position.

‘There were no commissions, as I have already said on many occasions,’ Ábalos told reporters after he was questioned by an investigating judge at the court in Madrid, adding he had provided documents ‘that prove this’.

‘I think I have provided the necessary clarifications,’ said Ábalos, and who had requested the hearing in order to be able to defend himself against the accusations.

According to a court document seen by Spanish media, Ábalos may have allegedly received ‘financial compensation’ for his services in the form of a house in Cadiz (Andalusia), 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.

The scandal is highly sensitive politically for Sánchez, who has been accused by the right-wing and far-right opposition of having been in the know and of having covered up the whole affair.

Ábalos, who Sánchez removed from office in July 2021, was expelled from the Socialist Party (PSOE) in February when the affair broke. He still sits as an independent member of parliament. ALSO READ: PSOE suspend ex-minister Ábalos, who will now serve as an independent MP.

Sanchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, also faces her own probe over alleged corruption and influence peddling, which the premier has characterised as an effort to undermine him and his government. She is due to be questioned in court on 18 December.