Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez apologized for corruption within his Socialist Party on Thursday, hours after a leading member of his political organization was implicated in a kickback scandal.
“I appear here to apologize to the citizens and supporters of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party,” Sánchez said in a televised press conference at the party’s headquarters in Madrid.
The extraordinary public apology came hours after the Spanish press reported that the Civil Guard’s Central Operative Unit (UCO) has evidence connecting the Socialist Party’s third-highest ranking member, Santos Cerdán, with the reception of kickbacks.
The UCO investigation suggests Cerdan colluded with former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos and his former adviser, Koldo García, to collect illegal commissions linked to public works projects.
In a press release announcing his resignation, Cerdán asserted that he had “never committed a crime nor been complicit in one” and said he was stepping down to focus on his legal defense. Cerdán added that he would submit himself to voluntary interrogation by the Supreme Court judge investigating Ábalos and García.
News of Cerdán’s alleged collusion with Ábalos and García came just days after the former transport minister’s home in Valencia was raided by the UCO. The politician, who was expelled from the Socialist Party in 2024, maintains his innocence and this week told reporters that he was a victim of “hoaxes and lies.”
Sánchez said he was “profoundly incensed and deeply saddened” by the revelations, because he has “always believed in ‘clean’ politics and [in] democratic regeneration, as well as in the fight against corruption.”
The prime minister said he would completely restructure the top echelon of his party and order an independent audit of its finances.
Despite calls for his resignation from opposition parties, Sánchez said he would not resign or call snap elections because he felt an obligation to defend “a political project in which millions believe and depend,” and which he did not want to see scuttled “by the conduct of a few individuals.”
“I apologize,” he added. “And I promise that although my feeling of deception is huge, my response to these developments will be decisive.”
Spanish PM Sánchez apologizes for corruption in his Socialist Party
Source: Viral Showbiz Pinay
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