The magistrate of the Supreme Court, Leopoldo Puente, opened this oral trial against José Luis Ábalos, Koldo García and Commissioner Víctor de Aldama for the alleged corruption plot surrounding the purchase of masks during the covid-19 pandemic. The magistrate accuses them of integration into a criminal organization; continuous, active and passive sharing; use of inside information, exploitation of inside information; influence peddling, embezzlement of public funds; lying in an official document and embezzlement. The instructor also accepted that the former minister and his former advisor remain in preventive prison and impose a bail of 70,000 euros on them to guarantee the economic responsibility that may be attributed to them after the hearing.
Judge Puente did not take 24 hours to open an oral judgment against Ábalos, García and Aldama after, this month, the Appeals Chamber upheld the trial of the three for allegedly profiting irregularly from the purchase of masks during the pandemic. A few hours after this resolution, the Congress applied article 21 of its regulations, which establishes that parliamentarians will be suspended in their rights and duties when they “have granted by the Chamber the authorization subject to a request and firm in the Auto de procesamiento, if they find themselves in a preventive prison situation and during this period”. Since that moment, the former minister, current deputy of the Mixed Group, has not managed to realize his honor as a deputy (nearly 6,000 euros per month) and has not been able to vote or participate in parliamentary activities.
The self-dictation of this jueves by Puente also confirms that the Supreme Court will access the court for the conspiracy of the masks, as the jurisprudence of the superior court in the cases against the accused establishes that once the court opens, this will be celebrated in the court where the investigation will take place before the accused dies and loses the fire. The High Court’s intention, according to judicial sources, is expected in the coming months, as would be expected, for February or March.
Meanwhile, Ábalos and Koldo García remained in Soto del Real prison (Madrid), where they entered last November 27. The judge ordered provisional incarceration without bail due to the “extreme” risk of escape, after the Anti-Corruption Inspectorate announced that he would demand in court 24 years in prison for the former minister and 19 and a half years for his former advisor. For the third accused, the businessman Aldama, the Fiscalía only complains of seven years in prison, considering that he collaborated with justice by indicting himself and providing data that contributed to dismantling the plot, which is why the judge alone imposed five-year appearances, the withdrawal of the passport and the ban on leaving Spain.
Ábalos and Koldo García will have to face a joint bail of 70,000 euros from prison, decreed last July by the instructor after Anticorruption announced that he would complain at the hearing that joint compensation to Ineco and Tragmatec of 34,477.86 and 9,500.54 euros, respectively, be imposed for the damage caused to the two public companies following the irregular hiring alleged murder of two women linked to Ábalos. He also requested the withdrawal of the ex-minister and his former advisor of the earnings from the crime of cohecho, for an amount of at least 430,298.4 euros, in addition to a fine and payment of the procedure.
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