The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office asked the investigator in the “Koldo case” at the Supreme Court, Leopoldo Puente, to send former Transport Minister José Luis Albalos to temporary prison, considering that there is now a risk of escape, because he faces up to 30 years in prison for fraud in the award of public contracts to purchase masks amid the pandemic.
According to legal sources consulted by Europa Press, the anti-corruption chief, Alejandro Luzón, and the popular accusations led by the People’s Party, asked the judge to imprison Abalos without the possibility of avoiding prison on bail. If so, he would become the first national MP to be placed in temporary prison.
It was the Prosecutor’s Office and the accusations in particular that interested Puente in holding an offer to review the precautionary measures taken against Ábalos and his former ministerial advisor Koldo García: a ban on leaving the country with the withdrawal of the passport and an appearance in court every fifteen days.
Throughout the investigations, the coach reviewed existing measures several times. Until this moment, the Public Prosecution had avoided requesting imprisonment, while the charges did so for the first time in the hearing only a month ago. On previous occasions, the judge has followed the line set by the anti-corruption agency. Now, you will have to analyze the new scenario.
One step away from judgment
It was on November 3 when Puente proposed that Abalos, Koldo and the alleged organizer of the conspiracy, Victor de Aldama, be tried for allegedly collecting kickbacks in exchange for awarding Soluciones de Gestión – linked to the businessman – contracts to purchase medical supplies during the Covid-19 crisis.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking 24 years in prison for Abalos and 19 and a half years for Koldo on charges of alleged crimes of membership in a criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling, embezzlement and use of confidential information. The Public Ministry is also concerned with a fine of approximately 3.9 million euros.
For their part, the popular accusations demand 30 years in prison for Abalos and Koldo, who are accused of the same crimes committed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office as well as two others: evasion and forgery of an official document.
Moreover, both the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the charges call for Aldama to be imprisoned for 7 years, reducing the proposed sentence for his “confession”, which helped reveal the alleged conspiracy to illegally award public works and which would have former PSOE Secretary Santos Cerdán as its leader.