The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has agreed this Thursday to take on the investigation of the actions of the former Minister of Transport and deputy José Luis Ábalos in the case of the irregular contracting of masks and medical supplies during the pandemic. The magistrates see signs of a crime in the reasoned statement sent a few days ago by the judge of the National Court Ismael Moreno. The instructor of the procedure will be Leopoldo Puente.
The Supreme Court leaves the investigation of the case in the hands of the Court with regard to those not certified, since there is no “inseparable material connection” that would require assuming the entire procedure. However, the Chamber urges the Court to send to the High Court “any data resulting from the procedures carried out and that are related to the facts provisionally attributed to the person certified before this Chamber.”
The order of the Chamber, for which Judge Andrés Martínez Arrieta has been the rapporteur, highlights that, at this procedural moment, it is their responsibility to verify whether the presentation that has been sent to them contains facts that, according to a very provisional assessment, could be criminal offenses, and if there are consistent indications or, in other words, principles of proof of the participation in them of the person certified.
And, after summarizing the content of what was sent by the judge of the Court, the Chamber reaches the conclusion that “the facts described, without prejudice to what may result from the investigation, could be constitutive, in accordance with the reasoned exposition, of a crime of belonging to a criminal organization, influence peddling, bribery and embezzlement”.
“It is, therefore, essential – the order highlights – to continue the investigation into them and into the participation in them of the certified person Mr. José Luis Ábalos Meco, this Chamber being competent to do so.”
The appointment of an instructor in the Supreme Court is carried out, in principle, only for the “investigation of the facts for which, indirectly, the authorized person could be responsible and with respect to those people who, due to the needs of the investigation (…). the investigation is inextricable, for which the appropriate agreement must be reached” with Judge Ismael Moreno. Consequently, the extension of jurisdiction to acts committed by persons not certified before the Supreme Court will only be appropriate when an inseparable material connection is appreciated with those investigated by the qualified persons, as the resolution emphasizes.
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