Supreme Court Judge Leopoldo Puente yesterday released the former Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalosdespite the fact that he appreciates an “increasing risk” of flight as the time of the oral trial “approaches.” Yesterday, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office did not request the imprisonment of the former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE.
In the freedom car, where the instructor of the Koldo case maintained the precautionary measures already imposed on the deputy, Puente highlighted the “solid indications of criminality” against Ábalos, alluding to their “robustness” while highlighting their “singular forcefulness.” Who was a man of the president’s complete confidence Pedro Sanchez He is accused of crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling and embezzlement of public funds.
Nor did it go unnoticed by the instructor that, despite the barrage of indications that Ábalos has committed “very serious” crimes, he continues to be a parliamentarian and, therefore, “at the same time exercising the high functions that correspond to a member of the Congress of Deputies (among them, the control of the Government’s action and the approval of regulations with the rank of law).”
The magistrate considers that the evidence of crime, which had already been reinforced by the UCO report that led to prison Santos Cerdanhave increased again with the most recent from the Civil Guard on the financial situation of Ábalos, which accounts for the transfer of cash funds without justified origin by the person under investigation.
This report “has increased the existence and robustness of the aforementioned evidence, highlighting that the person under investigation, without using any amount of cash from his bank accounts for several years, nevertheless made significant cash deposits into those same accounts.”
Judge Puente rules out the risk of criminal repetition and alteration of sources of evidence, given the progress of the investigation. Regarding the risk of flight, he indicated that Ábalos “has been able to have significant amounts of opaque money, perhaps in cash, perhaps deposited in third-party accounts that have not been found so far,” as well as “certain international contacts and links.”
The instructor also agrees with the Prosecutor’s Office that, as the evidence of crime accumulates and the eventual trial approaches, the risk of flight “is increasing.” «It is true that the risk that the person under investigation could escape the action of justice is growing, as the set of indications of the possible commission of serious crimes, punishable by very significant custodial sentences, becomes stronger; and as the date of the oral trial also approaches; which, perhaps, could justify, as the prosecutor suggested in his report, the adoption of more burdensome precautionary measures in the future,” reads the resolution.
After rejecting a change in the procedural situation of Ábalos, the magistrate addresses the political situation of the investigated person: “This instructor is no stranger to the natural stupor produced by the fact that a person, against whom there are such consistent indications of the eventual commission of very serious crimes, closely related to the flawed exercise of public office, can remain, in the course of the criminal procedure being followed against him” as a deputy. “This is, I think, a good reason for reflection,” concludes the judge.
The former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE chose yesterday, after the dispute with his former lawyer José Aníbal Álvarezfor taking advantage of his constitutional right not to testify. This decision by Ábalos was perceived as such by the investigator, who highlighted that the accused decided “not to provide any reasonable explanation that could justify the existence of those income for reasons other than those attributed to him in this procedure; and that, in addition, they appear corroborated, by whoever has acknowledged making those illicit payments”, in reference to the businessman Victor de Aldama.
Unlike the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the popular accusations had requested the imprisonment of the former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE. They did so under the unified legal direction of the Popular Party, on behalf of eight of the nine popular accusations (Sister was unmarked). They also requested the imposition of bail.
CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION. The Supreme Court considers that José Luis Ábalos was part of a criminal network that operated from the Ministry of Transportation.
INFLUENCE TRAFFICKING. The summary of the ‘Koldo case’ reflects that Ábalos took advantage of his privileged public position for criminal activity.
BRIBERY. The former minister is being investigated for several bribes whose counterparts also included defraying the expenses of his close friends.