Ábalos successfully leaves the Supreme Court awaiting the appointment of Koldo García, his right-hand man.

Former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos successfully passed his summons to the Supreme Court yesterday despite his delaying and distracting maneuvers, which have angered both the judge investigating him, Leopoldo Puente, and the chief prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, Alejandro Luzón, who is leading the investigation. Despite his unsuccessful last-minute move to change lawyers, in a clear attempt to delay his statement scheduled for yesterday, and his refusal to answer his interrogation, he avoided jail time, as requested by the popular accusations.

Luzón and Puente have worked hand in hand on this matter. They have jointly decided what steps should be taken and what measures to impose on those under investigation. Both agreed that former PSOE Organization Secretary Santos Cerdán should go to prison and also that it is not yet time to release him. Yesterday, Ábalos appeared before the Supreme Court after the investigating judge had prevented his lawyer, José Aníbal, from resigning, amid the discontent created between attorney and client over having to attend the hearing together.

This was the argument Ábalos used to refuse to testify, and he criticized Puente's claim that it was a legal fraud. The former minister and Cerdán's predecessor as the Socialist Party's Organization Secretariat tried to justify to the judge that it was fraudulent to leave his seat a day before the testimonial but not request a change of defense counsel given the irreconcilable differences between the two.

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Puente interrupted him and, according to sources present at the interrogation, seemed annoyed by the attitude adopted by the current deputy for the mixed group. Given his silence, the Popular Party (PP) prosecutors, led by the Popular Party (PP), asked the judge to hold a prison appearance.

Judge and prosecutor, hand in hand

Luzón opposed Ábalos's detention at the Soto del Real prison alongside his party colleague, although he acknowledged that the evidence against the former minister is growing stronger, especially after the latest report from the Civil Guard's Central Operational Unit (UCO), submitted earlier this month. It details how Ábalos, since joining the Ministry, stopped having transactions in his checking accounts and began using cash, up to 95,000 euros that they have been able to trace.

The prosecutor also warned that he poses a flight risk, but that he has already been subject to precautionary measures imposed since February, such as the revocation of his passport and the requirement to appear in court every two weeks, which he has since complied with. Furthermore, for Luzón, the fact that he is a member of Congress reduces the risk.

The judge was not sufficiently convinced by the arguments of the public prosecutors, who argued that Ábalos is the leader of a corruption scheme centered on the Ministry of Transport, seeking to favor companies with public contracts in exchange for bribes. He also did not buy the argument that there is a real risk of destruction or concealment of evidence, such as the money he allegedly received illegally, which, according to the prosecutors, must be hidden.

So the judge again relied on the Prosecutor's Office and opted to maintain his personal situation as it was before yesterday's statement. However, he left in a black-and-white ruling the existing evidence that the former minister "without using any cash from his bank accounts for several years, nevertheless made significant cash deposits into those same accounts."

Furthermore, the judge adds that it has become clear that there are "very close ties between the assets of Ábalos and that of Koldo García, also under investigation," who, according to the ruling, has been "paying Ábalos's expenses with his own assets."

Truce to the PSOE

After this latest incident, the former Valencian Socialist will be able to continue receiving his salary as a deputy. However, in his resolution, Puente invites the legislative branch to "reflect" on how a person investigated for such "serious" acts of corruption can continue to hold a seat in the lower house. He certainly won't put him in jail to prevent Ábalos's image from continuing to be seen in Congress.

The former minister's silence has also given the PSOE a break from doubts about what he might say about the cash payments to cover his expenses from the party during his time as Organization Secretary. However, the questioning of Koldo García, Ábalos's right-hand man since 2017, first as a driver, then as an advisor, and finally as his most trusted person and the person who managed his money, still remains.

García is summoned for court today. The specter of prison also loomed over him, although with Ábalos's release, that scenario is fading. According to sources familiar with the case, the former minister is waiting to hear what his former advisor says, as he has information not only about him but also about his children.

For now, Koldo García has denied all the facts, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to deny certain aspects, such as the recordings that officers found at his home during the search of his conversations with Ábalos and Cerdán, the latter of whom was responsible for transporting him from Navarra to Madrid.

The dispute over Ábalos' seat

Their defense strategy depends on each step each of them takes. One scenario being considered is that Ábalos will resign his seat so that the matter will no longer be within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and be transferred to the National Court, which would slow down the investigation. However, the former minister's decision to do so means he will lose his MP's salary.

All the steps the judge is taking and what he is indicating in his rulings indicate that the first part of the case is nearing completion, which would be the first step toward bringing them to trial for the contracts provided to businessman Víctor de Aldama for face masks during the pandemic. The latter has already acknowledged that he paid cash, apartments, vacations, and other gifts to Ábalos and García in exchange for opening doors not only to him in Transport but also in other administrations.