MADRID, Dec 11, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Spain's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a former close associate of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to stand trial for alleged corruption in a case that has threatened to topple the government.

The probe into Jose Luis Abalos, a former transport minister and Socialist heavyweight who helped propel Sanchez to power in 2018, is one of several corruption scandals rattling the fragile minority coalition.

Abalos and his ex-adviser Koldo Garcia are suspected of pocketing kickbacks for the awarding of public contracts for sanitary equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Both men will remain in pre-trial detention, accused of bribery, influence peddling, embezzlement and membership of a criminal organisation, the Supreme Court said in a ruling.

Prosecutors have demanded 24 years in jail for Abalos, who has been expelled from the Socialist party, and 19 and a half years for Garcia.

Another former senior Socialist figure, Santos Cerdan, is also suspected of irregularities in the awarding of public contracts, forcing him to relinquish his powerful post as the party's organisation secretary.

The scandal has rocked a government that came to power promising to clean up Spanish politics after the main conservative Popular Party was convicted in its own graft affair.

Sanchez has denied any irregular funding of the Socialist party, refusing opposition demands to resign and call a snap vote.

Separate corruption probes have ensnared the prime minister's wife Begona Gomez as well as his younger brother David Sanchez.

The legal troubles compound woes for the minority government, which struggles to pass legislation.