José Luis Ábalos sat down for the first time this Thursday in front of a judge to give explanations about his alleged involvement in the corruption plot known as the ‘Koldo case’. The former Minister of Development and Transport and Secretary of Organization of the PSOE – expelled from the party and the parliamentary group since the scandal broke out last February – has tried for three hours to refute the evidence that corners him and that points to his “role”. relevant” in the plot since he collected bribes in exchange for public contracts.
“I think I have given sufficient clarifications,” he told the press when leaving the court. “Nothing has been left in the pipeline, there was no commission as I have said many times,” he stated at the doors of the Supreme Court after announcing that he will provide the judge with documentation with the supposed evidence that would prove what he said in his statement, in which He has denied the perks attributed to him by both the Civil Guard and the supposed achiever of the plot, Víctor de Aldama.
“I thank your honor for allowing me this statement, I have been trying to testify for many months. I am very grateful, the session has been long, all the already known and published extremes have been touched upon,” Ábalos added before leaving the high court aboard a taxi and accompanied by his lawyer.
Ábalos, who unsuccessfully tried to postpone this appearance as an investigator, had before him the challenge of trying to dismantle the evidence collected by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, which in months of investigation has documented part of the perks that the The former minister allegedly received it from Víctor de Aldama, the businessman who benefited from million-dollar mask contracts during the worst of the pandemic. But he has also had to face the accusations of the latter, who has raised suspicions about the former minister by ensuring that he also received bribes for rigging in road contracts tendered by the department he directed between 2018 and 2021.
Ábalos arrived at the Supreme Court on Thursday morning without making statements before appearing voluntarily as a defendant before Judge Leopoldo Puente, who assumed the ramification of the case that affects the former minister for the alleged collection of commissions and gifts in exchange for favoring the companies in the plot, especially linked to Aldama, in awarding million-dollar public contracts in the pandemic.
This split of the case initially opened in the National Court has dragged along the multitude of popular accusations that were exercised before that court. The investigating judge decided that their actions should be unified under the legal representation of the Popular Party, the first to appear at the time, which leaves Vox, HazteOir, Liberum or the PSOE itself, among others, under its umbrella. In fact, this Thursday the magistrate has only allowed the PP to attend Ábalos’s statement and has prevented access to the rest of the popular accusations.
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