Two criminal trials opening in Madrid this week have put renewed focus on allegations of kickbacks, illicit party financing, and broader political corruption in Spain, according to The Guardian. 

At Spain’s Supreme Court, former transport minister José Luis Ábalos is standing trial alongside his former aide Koldo García and businessman Víctor de Aldama in the so-called “Koldo case,” which centers on alleged kickbacks linked to public contracts for sanitary equipment during the COVID pandemic, The Guardian reported. Ábalos and García deny the charges while Aldama has admitted his role in the alleged scheme.

The case has the hallmarks of classic public corruption scandals: emergency procurement, politically connected intermediaries, and alleged payments made in exchange for access to state contracts. Prosecutors are seeking 24 years for Ábalos, 19 years for García and seven years for Aldama, according to The Guardian. 

At the Audiencia Nacional, former interior minister Jorge Fernández Díaz is charged with embezzlement, concealment and breaching privacy over allegations that officials spied on former People’s party treasurer Luis Bárcenas to prevent details of the party’s illegal financing from surfacing, the news agency reported. Fernández Díaz denies knowledge of any such plot and faces a 15-year sentence if convicted. 

Prosecutors allege the operation targeted Bárcenas after he was jailed in 2013 on tax fraud and money laundering charges. Bárcenas was later sentenced to 33 years for fraud and money laundering and has repeatedly said senior party figures knew about the illegal contributions, according to the report. Former prime minister Mariano Rajoy is due to testify in the Fernández Díaz trial, along with former PP secretary-general María Dolores de Cospedal.

The two cases, though different, have the “potential to seriously dent each party’s claims of having zero-tolerance for corruption” as voters prepare to vote next month in Andalucía and in a general election next year, the news outlet said. 

Read more at The Guardian