Brother and wife of Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez both closer to standing in dock

While Pedro Sánchez was in New York this week, trying to focus his political coverage on the crisis in the Middle East, events back home in the ongoing cases of alleged corruption cases involving his family were taking a turn for the worse.

On Tuesday, a court in the Extremadura region announced that the PM's brother, David, will stand trial over supposed offences of prevarication and influence peddling. This is linked to his questionable appointment into senior creative music roles in the Badajoz provincial authority. Investigations have concluded that he had the job created for him by the authorities, amid claims he neither lived in Badajoz nor had an office there. Some officials, members of the PSOE party of his brother, are accused of facilitating the alleged fraud,

Meanwhile, the following day, it emerged that the Madrid judge investigating Begoña Gómez, the wife of Pedro Sánchez, had told her that she will in all likelihood face a jury trial of embezzlement over the use for personal affairs of an assistant, who is also a friend, who was contracted only to help in her duties as wife of the PM.

All involved in both cases rigorously deny the claims, as does the PM's office.