Spain’s Supreme Court has sentenced former transport minister José Luis Ábalos to 24 years in prison for corruption over the awarding of pandemic-era contracts for medical masks.
The court also jailed his former aide, Koldo García, for 19 years and the businessman Víctor de Aldama for four and a half years, in the first verdict to reach the inner circle of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government.
The seven judges of the criminal chamber reached their decision unanimously, following a trial held across 14 sessions in April and May.
For Ábalos, the term matched in full the 24 years sought by the Anti-Corruption Office. García was given six months less than the 19 and a half years prosecutors had demanded, while Aldama received well below the seven years requested, a reflection of his co-operation with investigators.
The People’s Party (PP), which led the private prosecution, had pressed for 30-year terms for both Ábalos and García and five years for Aldama.
The ruling found that the three had belonged to a criminal organisation that profited from public spending during the COVID-19 emergency. The charges covered bribery, influence peddling, embezzlement and the misuse of privileged information.
During the trial, Ábalos and García pleaded not guilty and asked to be acquitted. Aldama admitted taking part in bribery, membership of a criminal organisation and the misuse of privileged information.
Ábalos was once one of Sánchez’s closest lieutenants, serving as transport minister and as organisation secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) before he was expelled. He and García have been held in custody since November 2025.
The conviction deepens the corruption cloud over the minority Socialist government, which the right-wing opposition has seized on to demand early elections.
