Spain's PM Pedro Sánchez apologises after top aide implicated in corruption scandal

A police report leaked to the media on Wednesday identified party secretary Santos Cerdán as responsible for handling illegal commission payments linked to public contracts.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez asked for forgiveness from the public on Thursday after one of his closest aides stepped down after being implicated in an ongoing corruption scandal."I want to apologise to the citizens," Sánchez said during a press conference hours before Santos Cerdán stepped down a secretary of the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).Sánchez said his party would undergo an external audit, but rejected opposition calls for a snap election."There will be no election until 2027," he said."Until this morning, I was convinced of Cerdán's integrity, as there was no indication of his involvement in the case. We should not have trusted him," Sánchez said, acknowledging that the accusations against Cerdán were very serious.What are the allegations against Cerdán?Cerdán was considered Sánchez’s right-hand man and served as the socialist party’s secretary.A police report leaked to the media on Wednesday identified him as responsible for handling illegal commission payments linked to public contracts.The report contains eight audio recordings of conversations between Cerdán, former Socialist minister José Luis Ábalos and Ábalos’s former aide, Koldo García.In the recordings, they allegedly discuss the payment of €620,000 in illegal commissions.According to the report, Cerdán was in charge of "managing the alleged payments."Less than a day after those reports emerged, Cerdán announced his resignation and relinquished both his seat in Congress and his position within the Socialist Party."I hope to focus on my defence and prove that I have never committed any wrongdoing," he said.