Jose Luis Abalos He tried to put a hard drive in Soto del Real. Prison security officials confiscated the USB key from the former minister, who said “he didn’t know it was there.” The entry of this USB stick was saved in the … parts of the Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions that he did not report the fact to the court and that the object was recovered by his son along with other personal effects, according to prison sources who inform ABC.
These serious events occurred on November 27, the day when judge Leopoldo Puente decreed the entry into prison of José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García. The former minister and his confidant were taken from the Supreme Court in Soto del Real by Civil Guard agents.
The former socialist leader and Koldo both wore days to prepare your things facing a hypothetical entry into prison. The former councilor even went so far as to show in the preceding hours the business and activities he planned to carry out inside the premises.
Both benefited at all times from the advice of their legal teams, who informed them of what could be put and what should be avoided in their luggage. There was no predicting what happened a few hours later.
Upon their arrival at the prison, Ábalos and Koldo were searched by the security managers from Soto del Real. The former advisor passed all the checks. However, the speakers spotted this hard drive among the personal effects of the backpack carried by the former minister.
“I didn’t know it was there.”this was the explanation he provided to the workers. The employees of Soto del Real did not believe this version since the prisoners are warned by their lawyers of the objects with which they can enter the prison.
The personal effects that Ábalos could not bring into the prison were detailed in a report uploaded to the internal page of the Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions. Department officials made ignore this request and the son of the former minister recovered the USB key with astonishing normality.
Leopoldo Puente could have asked the UCO to investigate the content of this new mobile device
Prison sources explain to ABC that this circumstance occurs with extraordinary normality without informing the courts of these seizures. Authorities are faced with cases in which magistrates demand cell phones from people under investigation, even though they are already in the possession of their loved ones. A terrible abandonment of functions which, in this case, favored the former minister, since Leopoldo Puente could have asked the UCO to analyze the content of this object.
This is not the first time Ábalos’ name has been linked to a USB drive controversy. On June 10, Civil Guard agents searched the former socialist leader’s home in Valencia. The former minister was accompanied by a friend who told officials she wanted to leave the house to go to find breakfast and walk the dog.
Suspicion motivated the civil guards to search this young girl and they found a hard drive in her pants. It was later learned that this portable memory stored conversations between Ábalos and senior PSOE officials, including the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez.
José Luis Ábalos in an archive photo
The reason given by the former minister is that he was in the process of writing a book of memoirs and that the seizure of this material prevented him from progressing in the writing. And it was at his home in Valencia that he was seized more than twenty of these devicessome of them even wore the insignia and colors of the PSOE.
Since the start of the investigation into the Koldo affair, the former minister and his Transport advisor have demanded the return of their mobile devices to be able to defend themselves against the public accusations of which they have been victims. However, UCO continues to analyze information from these phones and souvenirs and their reimbursement is not plannedat least in the short term.
The Civil Guard is tracking all this information, which has already revealed two cases of corruption. Of course, in the same case but with a different destination, Víctor de Aldama was able to obtain a copy of two of his telephone numbers to go and testify at the cases of masks that the National Court hears this procedure.
“In the name of Ábalos”
An expert hired by the businessman analyzed the information from these two devices. The objective was to obtain more information about the former president of the Canary Islands Angel Victor Torres. Aldama assured that he would provide more evidence to collaborate with the investigation carried out by the UCO.
On the other hand, Koldo and Ábalos’ life in prison unfolds with apparent normality. Both have already adapted to the Soto del Real ecosystem while their hope of getting out of prison before the end of the year. Leopoldo Puente argued that there was a risk of flight and ordered this entry.
Everything seems to indicate that both will remain in prison until their trial takes place before the Supreme Court. A decision which would extend his stay in prison by several months. The former minister wrote several complaints against Francine Armengol since he believes that his rights as a deputy are not respected.
And Ábalos is already suspended and has not received his monthly income of more than 5,000 euros since he arrived at the chamber. A hard blow for the finances of the former minister who had already admitted for months that he did not have “a penny”, according to the recordings made by Koldo García. His most important media speaker currently is the account “In the name of Ábalos”, where he broadcasts his concerns on social networks.
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