Criticizing the court’s leniency with Aldama, Transport Minister Óscar Puente said society should take note of the ruling. “See, kids? If you commit crimes but then behave and ‘cooperate,’ forgiveness will come through,” he wrote in a post on X. “You won’t even go to prison.”
The ruling increases pressure on Pedro Sánchez, who appointed Ábalos to top posts in both the ruling Socialist Party and his first two governments. Spain’s leader is struggling to disassociate himself from the plethora of corruption cases involving close political allies, relatives and other members of his inner circle.
Shortly after the ruling was announced, opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, head of the center-right People’s Party, demanded Sánchez’s resignation.
“The prime minister is politically responsible for the corruption of his ministers in office,” he said. “His most trusted advisor, the custodian and errand boy of the Sánchez regime, has been convicted.”
However, Feijóo said he would not attempt to bring a no-confidence vote against Sánchez in the Spanish parliament, as it’s unlikely a majority of lawmakers would back the measure.
The prime minister has vowed to govern until 2027, when the current legislature ends. But on Monday, parliamentary allies like the Republican Left of Catalonia’s Gabriel Rufián questioned whether it made sense for Sánchez to hold on to power when his party is increasingly associated with corruption.