Spain’s prime minister asks nation for forgiveness after high court investigates a close confidant

MADRID (AP) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Thursday asked the nation for forgiveness after a close confidant in his Socialist Party was put under investigation for his alleged participation in a kickback scheme.

The damaging case is the latest legal scandal - none of which have gone beyond the preliminary investigation phase - that have dogged Sánchez’s inner party circle and his family for the past year. Sánchez himself hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing.

¨I want to ask forgiveness to the public because the Socialist Party and myself as its general secretary not should have trusted him,” he said, referring to Socialist lawmaker Santos Cerdán.

Sánchez spoke hours after Spain's Supreme Court said that Cerdán is suspected of being involved in an alleged kickback scheme for government contracts. It was part of an ongoing investigation that already had pointed to the participation of another former minister in Sánchez’s government.

Cerdán was the Socialist Party's No. 3 official until he resigned from that post on Thursday.

"I have known Santos Cerdán since 2011 … and worked arm in arm with him," he said, adding that no matter what happens in the court case "this is an enormous disappointment."

Speaking at the Socialist Party headquarters in Madrid, Sánchez repeatedly asked Spaniards for forgiveness and said that he had learned of the corruption charges against Cerdán only hours before. Sánchez said that Cerdán is defending his innocence.

The public act of contrition by Sánchez comes around 14 months after he took five days off to consider his political future when a judge launched an investigation into his wife, Begoña Gómez, for alleged influence peddling. Instead of resigning, he said he would fight on and denounced what he called a "smear campaign" by media outlets aligned with right-wing political leanings.

On Thursday, the Spanish leader said that he would order an external audit of the Socialist Party’s accounts, but he refused to call an early election like his political opponents have demanded for months.

"There won’t be elections until 2027, because this is not about me or the Socialist Party. This is about a project to bring positive change to the country," Sánchez said.

Despite leading a minority government, Sánchez said that he was sure he could finish out his four-year term. He has so far maintained the backing of his government’s junior members and a myriad of smaller regional and leftist parties in parliament.

"There is no crisis in my government," Sánchez said.

As secretary of the Socialist Party organization, Cerdán held the third-most powerful position in the prime minister’s party.

Shortly after the court made public that there were sufficient indications that Cerdán was involved in the alleged kickback scheme, Cerdán renounced his seat in parliament and his party posts. While never a minister, Cerdán was charged with sensitive political negotiations, including the key talks between the Socialists and Catalan separatist parties that allowed Sánchez to form a new government in late 2023.

One of Europe's longest-serving leaders, the 53-year-old Sánchez has displayed adroit negotiating skills to stay in power since 2018, when he led Spain's only successful no-confidence motion against his conservative Popular Party predecessor.

This week, Spain’s Supreme Court also announced that it would put the country’s prosecutor general on trial over allegations of leaking confidential information in a tax fraud case involving the boyfriend of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the conservative head of the Madrid region and one of Sánchez's main political rivals.

Last Sunday, tens of thousands of people protested in Madrid against Sánchez in a rally that was organized by the Popular Party under the slogan "mafia or democracy.”