The political fate of Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister, may rest on a dog’s breakfast.
José Luis Ábalos, the Socialist leader’s former right-hand man, was the subject of a police raid at his home last week.
While officers questioned him, he asked his companion to take his dog for a walk and passed her some “breakfast” for it. An officer, on seeing that she was hiding “something” in her trousers as she left the house, found that the dog’s breakfast was in fact a computer hard drive.
The discovery, and the media revelation that his companion was a 32-year-old former porn actress whose professional name is Letizia Hilton, has fuelled a scandal that involves prostitutes, lies and claims of sleaze at the highest levels of government.
Sánchez now faces allegations of systemic corruption in his inner circle. A police report showed his two successive right-hand men, Ábalos, 65, and Santos Cerdán, 56, had allegedly taken kickbacks on multiple state contracts.
The ability of Sánchez’s minority government to remain in power depends on Catalan, Basque and radical-left parties that have so far refused to support him, fearing the taint of further corruption allegations, which are widely expected.
The prime minister’s isolation was evident in a thunderous parliamentary session on Wednesday due to the absence of Yolanda Díaz, the leader of the populist left-wing Sumar platform, his main coalition partner, in protest at the allegations.
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As Sánchez unusually slipped up, describing the allegations as “an anecdote” and saying “the Socialist party absolutely tolerates corruption”, Gabriel Rufián, an ally and Catalan separatist, demanded that he “swear” that his own name would not emerge in the scandal.
For Sánchez’s allies, the embarrassment of the scale of the alleged kickbacks has been worsened by audio recordings allegedly showing Ábalos and Koldo García, his aide, who is also facing corruption charges, discussing sharing prostitutes whose services and attributes they discuss in detail.
“Ariatna who’s fine, she’s brand new, she’s fine, she’s perfect,” says Garcia in a tape recording. “And the Colombian girl,” replies Ábalos. García interjects by saying that he wants her. “I don’t know,” argues Ábalos , then the transport minister. “She is a f***ing good shag.”
Sánchez said the “audios about women profoundly shame me” but as his government had boasted about its feminist credentials and attempted to ban prostitution, the revelations have been particularly damaging.
Sánchez with José Luis Ábalos, his former right-hand man, who was the subject of a police raid at his home last week
PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
So too have the recorded conversations in which Ábalos, Cerdán and García discuss counting up, sharing out and arguing over the spoils of their alleged corruption. The sums involved amounted to up to a million euros, the report said. The recordings, made by García, include a moment in which he and Ábalos appear to be angry over accusations made by Cerdán that they have been taking more kickbacks than they had declared to him.
“I haven’t asked for a penny, I haven’t kept a penny, I’m very happy with what I have, if you want from now on I won’t be the intermediary,” Garcia says.
Cerdán tells him to not talk aloud about the deals and to write down the discussion instead. Other recordings, after Sánchez dismissed Ábalos as a minister, show García asking Cerdán for kickbacks allegedly owed to his former boss. “150,000 [euros] to keep his ex-wife off his back”, García says. Abalos states: “All I know is I don’t have a f***ing penny. I’m living on €50 all f***ing week, but I’m stretching it like f***.”
Sánchez’s relationship with the trio of suspects, who all deny wrongdoing, is now in the spotlight. The prime minister has tried to distance himself from them, calling them a “toxic triangle”. But he came to power largely thanks to Ábalos and Cerdán . A source of unease for him is that he famously went on a car journey round Spain in 2017 with them and García in an attempt to revive his then flagging political career.
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After the recordings were made public last week, Sánchez was at first contrite and then went on the attack, accusing the “reactionary” opposition of corruption, and saying that he will stand for elections in 2027. His government maintains that it is the victim of a smear and lawfare campaign conducted by the opposition, judges and media.
In an article published in El Pais, Manuel de la Rocha, his chief economics aide, called on Sánchez to agree with his allies a confidence vote in an effort to rally voters. But as the damage to the Socialist reputation mounts, the newspaper, a bellwether of the party’s thought, carried columns on Thursday that said Sánchez was “broken” and should resign.