Spain: Pedro Sánchez accused of being aware of his party's alleged illegal funding

Pedro Sánchez knew about alleged illegal funding of his party, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). That is the latest accusation that the Spanish prime minister has received during a trial on a corruption case involving several people who, at the time, were among his inner circle. Among them is former Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos.

During this Wednesday's session at the Spanish Supreme Court of the trial for the so-called "Caso Mascarillas" ("Mask Case"), businessman Víctor de Aldama, indicted for this alleged corruption scheme, stated that Sánchez was in the "upper echelon" of an "organized gang," which also included former PSOE Secretary of Organization Santos Cerdán, Ábalos and the latter's former advisor, Koldo García.

"I am obviously in the organized gang, Mr. Prime Minister was in tier 1, Mr. Ábalos in tier 2, Mr. García in tier 3 and me in tier 4," the businessman declared.

In addition, de Aldama accused Sánchez of knowing about the illegal fuding of PSOE, a party he has led since 2014 in two different stages, from 2014 to 2016 and again from 2017 to the present.

"Koldo told me: 'We have to see how we can help each other and get a return for the financing of the party,'" said de Aldama during his court appearance, in reference to the "cash money" they obtained with the awarding of public contracts to buy masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

De Aldama also explained that, thanks to the international contacts he had and the friendship he maintained with Ábalos, the group was able to do business in countries such as Mexico and Venezuela.

The crimes they are charged with are: constitution of criminal organization, continued bribery, influence peddling, misappropriation of public funds, insider trading, falsification of official documents, money laundering and administrative prevarication. Cerdán spent five months (until November 2025) serving a provisional sentence. Ábalos and García remain behind bars provisionally.

Sánchez surrounded by corruption

In addition to this case, Sánchez's inner circle is also involved in other scandals. A few days ago, his wife, Begoña Gómez, was prosecuted for four crimes: embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption and misappropriation of funds, for the creation of a chair at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, one of Spain's most important universities, after being investigated for years.

Another of the cases involves Álvaro García Ortiz. Appointed by the Sánchez government as attorney general in 2022, in November 2025 the Supreme Court sentenced him to a two-year disqualification for leaking secrets to harm the opposition, specifically the president of the Community of Madrid region, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.

David Sánchez, brother of the Spanish prime minister, is also being investigated for administrative prevarication, influence peddling and embezzlement.

Another person linked to Sánchez that is being investigated Leire Díez, a former member of PSOE. Known as "La Fontanera" ("The Plumber"),  the justice system charged her in July 2025 for the crimes of bribery and influence peddling.