The former Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos appears today in the Supreme Court to give explanations for the origin of the cash he handled as a result of being appointed member of the Government of Pedro Sanchez. The magistrate Leopoldo Puente has summoned him to testify after analyzing the report where the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard where “disbursements” of 95,437 euros by the former leader of the PSOE were detected, which would come from “undeclared income” by the current deputy of the Mixed Group. A portion of that income came from Ferraz.
Ábalos’ appearance has been preceded by the – useless – attempt by the former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE to delay his statement before Leopoldo Puente, instructor of the Koldo case.
Legal sources indicate that the interrogation that will be carried out by both Judge Puente and the Chief Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, Alejandro Luzonwill focus on questions about the origin of the cash that Ábalos handled since he was appointed head of the Ministry of Public Works, after the UCO report showed the use of payments through envelopes, with PSOE letterhead and received at the headquarters.
Likewise, the sources consulted indicate that a large part of the appearance will also deal with the role played by his former advisor, Koldo Garciaas manager of those funds of unknown origin. Judge Puente has already pointed out that the evidence collected in the case dismantles the thesis defended by Ábalos about his relationship with Koldo as another advisor within the Ministry although the latter assumed the execution of “certain domestic assignments” for the former socialist leader.
Yesterday, Judge Puente issued a new order in which he indicated that Ábalos’s maneuver had the “purpose of hindering or disturbing the normal development of the judicial procedure” and added that the resignation of his lawyer hours before testifying “could only” be understood “as carried out in fraud of law.” In the resolution, Puente also announced that, once he has declared, Ábalos will face the appearance provided for in article 505 of the Criminal Procedure Law, that is, the imposition of precautionary measures. The former minister already has precautionary measures imposed, such as the obligation to appear fortnightly in the court closest to his home, the withdrawal of his passport and also the prohibition on leaving Spain. Ábalos’ fear is that he could end up in preventive detention, like the former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE already is. Santos Cerdan.
The man who was a man completely trusted by President Sánchez plans to defend his innocence again today in the Supreme Court. “I will go bare-chested because I have nothing to hide,” says the former minister in conversation with THE WORLD. The truth is that a possible collaboration with Justice is further away than ever. In fact, the accused has reproached his lawyer in recent months, José Aníbal Álvarezhaving created a “climate of pressure” with leaks to the media so that he would leave the deputy’s record and reach an agreement in accordance with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. The former minister has been conveying to Aníbal his refusal to accept this approach and has reiterated his intention to defend his innocence as well as to maintain the record of deputy, which he considers at this time to be “his only means of living.”
A political strategy
Proof that Ábalos has wanted to impose his criteria was the last document presented before the Supreme Court in which he harshly addressed the High Court and the Civil Guard, referring to the former as a “Court of the Inquisition” and the Armed Institute, as a body that “sees houses where there are none”, in reference to the erroneous attribution of a property in Colombia to the former minister. In this writing is the line of argument that he wants to maintain in his defense: “From what has been practiced to date, nothing strange has been found in regards to receiving gifts of an economic nature.”
For his part, the lawyer José Aníbal reproaches Ábalos for having met in recent months with other lawyers to advise him on the defense strategy he should follow, some of whom gave him advice that coincided with that of Aníbal. That is, he reaches an agreement in accordance with the Public Ministry to reduce his foreseeable sentence and avoid his entry into prison. The discomfort over these meetings has increased in recent days when Ábalos met with Koldo García’s lawyer.
The last exchanged reproaches caused the final breakup but how it was going to be articulated remained up in the air. Ábalos asked Aníbal to voluntarily renounce his defense, which the lawyer refused to do, considering that he was not willing to do so a few hours before a key statement in the Supreme Court.
For his part, Judge Puente maintained yesterday that the conduct of Ábalos’s lawyer has been “objectively irreproachable, intervening in the interrogations carried out until now; “interesting in the practice of proceedings or opposing those that he did not consider to be of interest to the rights and interests of Ábalos Meco.” During the hours prior to his appearance, and as this newspaper has learned, Ábalos has held conversations with several lawyers to choose his new defender. However, at the time of going to press, Ábalos had still not concluded the hiring of a new lawyer.