The PP's 'Aldama' whom Sánchez pardoned and for whom he didn't raise a fuss

This afternoon, Pedro Sánchez's government received a major setback on the judicial front regarding its corruption cases.

Pedro Sánchez, Aldama, corruption, and the problem of having lied so many times
Begoña Gómez and the shameless tantrum of a privileged socialist elite

In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court has sentenced former socialist minister José Luis Ábalos to 24 years and 3 months in prison for a total of nine crimes, including criminal organization, bribery, embezzlement of public funds, and influence peddling. The Supreme Court has stated that "in application of the rule provided for in art. 76 of the Penal Code, it implies a maximum effective sentence of fifteen years and eighteen months in prison".

Furthermore, his collaborator, the socialist Koldo García Izaguirre, has been sentenced to 19 years, 8 months, and 1 day in prison for the same crimes. The lesser sentence is justified by the court, which points out that García "occupies a subordinate civil service position with respect to the aforementioned defendant, for whom he is merely an advisor."

Furthermore, businessman Víctor de Aldama has been sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison for crimes of organized crime and bribery. However, in his case, the court "has agreed to suspend the execution of the sentence due to his contribution to the discovery of the crimes and on the condition that he does not commit any further offenses, submits a semi-annual activity report, and performs community service for one year."

The Spanish left has erupted in anger at the fact that Aldama will not be imprisoned, pointing to this as an anomaly. Apparently, the left has already forgotten that José Luis Peñas, former PP councilor, was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months in prison for the Gürtel case. However, just like Aldama, he did not go to prison because he cooperated with the Justice system. The sentence that was not commuted was the disqualification from holding public office, but Pedro Sánchez's government granted him a partial pardon in 2024 so that he could return to his civil service position. The Supreme Court had issued a report in favor of this partial pardon.

The different reactions of Spanish socialism to both cases have an explanation. José Luis Peñas cooperated with the Justice system to uncover a serious corruption case involving the People's Party, while Aldama has done so to uncover a corruption case affecting the PSOE. The socialists see no problem in rewarding criminals who cooperate with the Justice system as long as it's not to expose their own corruption. This is the level of sectarianism and shamelessness to which Spanish socialism has sunk in its eagerness to enjoy total impunity.

Furthermore, the preferential treatment afforded to Aldama, as provided by law, not only serves to reward his cooperation with the Justice system, a cooperation that has brought to light many details of the Ábalos case and that could also shed light on other cases of socialist corruption: let us recall that two months ago Aldama stated that he was part of a criminal organization in which Sánchez was the "top-ranking official," directly pointing to the Prime Minister as the ringleader of this corruption network.

The reduced sentence obtained by Aldama is an incentive that can be extended to other individuals involved in socialist corruption, encouraging them to cooperate with the justice system to avoid prison. This is why Spanish law provides for such benefits: to bring crimes to light. The panic within the government and the PSOE is understandable, because they already have many open legal cases related to corruption, which means there are quite a few people interested in cooperating with the justice system. Now we will see what socialism is capable of doing to keep these potential "Aldamas" silent.

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Photo: Efe.