Spanish PM’s former right-hand man jailed for 24 years for corruption

Jose Luis Abalos found to have taken bribes on Covid-era public contracts in damaging blow to Pedro Sanchez

Spain's supreme court has jailed the former transport minister Jose Luis Abalos for 24 years for taking bribes on public contracts for sanitary equipment such as face masks during the Covid pandemic.

Abalos's aide, Koldo Garcia, was jailed for 19 years in a trial that is one of several scandals to have enveloped the government of Pedro Sanchez over recent months.