The former Minister of Transport and former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos, has informed the Supreme Court that he is dispensing with his lawyer, Jose Aníbal48 hours after his appearance to give explanations about the assets report prepared by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard.
In the writing, to which he has had access THE WORLDthe deputy explains that the breakup responds to “irreducible differences” with his lawyer, which far from “constituting a specific circumstance over time have become a constant.” Which has led to an “irreversible deterioration of the relationship” between the two.
The accused adds that, in this way, he has even been forced to prepare alone for his statement next Wednesday as an investigator. “The relationship between us has been interrupted, to the point that the signatory, who is not a lawyer, has to prepare his statement on his own,” reads Ábalos’ letter.
The rupture takes place after months of differences over the line of defense to follow within the framework of the so-called ‘Koldo case’. Aníbal advised his former client to reach an agreement with the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office to confess the facts of which he is accused and reduce his foreseeable sentence. At the same time, and more recently, he had tried to convince him to voluntarily leave his position as deputy after the Supreme Court divided this macro case of corruption.
The lawyer argued that in this way the case would go to trial. National Court and would be able to delay a hypothetical conviction and eventual imprisonment. Ábalos has been replying that he is not in favor of leaving the record because it constitutes his only source of income and that he did not see that strategy clear.
On the contrary, and despite the overwhelming circumstantial evidence, Ábalos continues to maintain that he is in a position to defend his innocence since he emphasizes that the important hidden fortune presumed by the investigation has not been found and that the charges attributed to him by the Civil Guard in cash from the party do not constitute, in his opinion, even a tax crime.