The Supreme Court agrees to investigate former socialist minister José Luis Ábalos for his alleged involvement in the ‘Koldo case’. The high court admits the reasoned statement in which the judge investigating the case at the National Court, Ismael Moreno, asked to open a case against him given the “founded and serious indications” of his “main role” in a criminal organization that supposedly He profited from the sale of masks during the pandemic.
In an order, dated November 5, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court considers it “essential” to investigate facts “that could constitute a crime of belonging to a criminal organization, influence peddling, bribery and embezzlement” and appoints an investigator to Judge Leopoldo Puente.
Furthermore, it determines that the procedure against those not certified continues in the National Court “except when there is an inseparable material connection” between those investigated and the former minister and now deputy of the Mixed Group after his expulsion from the PSOE and its parliamentary group last February.
Judge Moreno attributed to Ábalos a “clear and concrete accusation” in crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, influence peddling and bribery after receiving a report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard that awarded him a “relevant role.” and responsibility” in the alleged plot that nested in the Ministry of Transportation that he directed between January 2020 and July 2021.
After a year of investigation, this police report reveals for the first time the “compensation” that he would have received as a result of his efforts for the plot. At the moment, there are no bribes in the form of cash payments. But there are other gifts that have brought to light seven months of telephone taps, hundreds of intercepted emails and the dumping of 170 electronic devices – including cell phones and computers – confiscated from members of the network and people linked to it. The enjoyment of a chalet in exchange for his intercession in contracts or the payment of rent for his partner’s home are the most significant examples.
The UCO investigations prove that the businessman Víctor Aldama, the “corrupting element” in the case, paid up to 32 monthly rents for the apartment where a woman named Jessica resided, who at that time had a romantic relationship with the former minister. A luxury apartment, located in the Torre de Madrid building in the Plaza de España in the capital, and for which 2,700 euros per month were paid.
It was not the only gift that Ábalos received according to the Civil Guard. The UCO also considers in its report that there is “multiple evidence” that it made “real use” of a luxury villa located in the La Alcaidesa urbanization, near Sotogrande, purchased by Aldama through other alleged front men. “In the presence of evidence (…) it would link the participation of Ábalos in the investigated contracts with the purchase by Aldama of a villa for the former minister himself,” appears in the report.
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