SPANISH Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pleaded for forgiveness on Thursday after a close confidant in his Socialist Party was put under investigation for alleged corruption.

The damaging case is the latest legal scandal to dog Mr Sanchez’s inner circle and his family for the past year. Mr Sanchez himself hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing.

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

Mr Sanchez spoke hours after Spain’s Supreme Court said that Mr Cerdan is suspected of being involved in an alleged scheme to corruptly offer government contracts. It was part of an ongoing investigation that had already pointed to the participation of another former minister in Mr Sanchez’s government.

Mr Cerdan was the Socialist Party’s third most senior official until he resigned from that post on Thursday.

Mr Sanchez said that no matter what happens in the court case “this is an enormous disappointment.”

Mr Sanchez repeatedly asked Spaniards for forgiveness and said that he had learned of the corruption charges against Mr Cerdan only hours before. 

The PM confirmed that Mr Cerdan was denying the allegations against him.