“They want to threaten me with prison. They want me to collapse. They are seeking recognition. It makes no sense for Santos (Cerdan) to leave prison and enter it with the same precautions and a much less important role than his. Putting a deputy in jail is a very powerful thing. He will be the first deputy to go to prison. Deputy in prison?! truly?! “The deficit is complete.”
This is what former Minister José Luis Abalos denounced in a telephone conversation with El Mundo newspaper, in an interview before the crucial appointment he received on Thursday before Supreme Court Judge Leopoldo Puente, which led to him being sent to prison without bail, along with Koldo García.
Who was Pedro Sánchez’s right-hand man until the summer of 2021, he rebels against the difference in treatment between the other members of the alleged conspiracy and himself, insists on canceling the trial, denounces a “possible” case against him and points directly to La Moncloa. Moreover, he emphasized that the charges against him are “far less than what is said about Ángel Victor Torres in the report” from the UCO. “There was neither WhatsApp Me, when they accused me. Why isn’t Torres charged?” he asks.
Abalos believes the government is doing everything it can against him Covering the scope of the relationships between Air Europa and Begonia Gomez. Above all, he believes that if he became the prison’s “chief deputy” it would be an ideal that is not supported by the facts. “For its international image, Spain cannot afford the scandal of putting a lawmaker in prison after the prosecutor was convicted. Do you want a lawmaker to stand trial from prison wearing striped pajamas?”
- But are you sure you will go to prison?
- Surely they will release me on bail and put me in prison. (That was not the case; the judge sent him to jail without bail.)
- Why do you say that?
- Because I can’t pay it! I only have 6,000 euros in the account, from what Cristina Segui paid me (after the Supreme Court convicted the aforementioned activist to compensate him for defamation). If you have to ask for bail, ask those who made money from the masks, namely Mr. Aldama and Mr. Cueto. I gained nothing, I have nothing, and the investigators and the judge know it.
- What has changed so that prison now hangs over you?
- nothing. What is the hypothesis? Flying risk? I haven’t left Spain for over two years. I’m not leaving the country. I don’t have anything (money or work) abroad. I have children, with a visitation system. I have the payroll I need. I go to Congress every week and you can see me. What is the risk of leakage? With the trial date approaching, with the matter being resumed, with the request to cancel the trial…the only justification they have is the risk of flight, which is not sustainable. And 94,000 euros spent. This all sounds crazy to me. They torture themselves. I don’t have rights?! I’m pimpampum now.
- You speak as if there is a hunt against you.
- Man, at this point…don’t make me laugh. At this point, please! The Supreme Court and the government are interested in doing their best. It suits them well. They did not accept any assignments for me.
In the most decisive section of the conversation, Ex Number two Pedro Sanchez asserts that he does not understand why he was accused of alleged bribery, “and the person paying is not one.” He points out that Air Europe, the company where Victor de Aldama worked, allegedly paid him to stay in a chalet in Marbella as compensation for his “related intervention” in the rescue of the airline. In fact, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office sees signs of crime in paying for vacations that the Abalos enjoyed as a family.
At this point, the former PSOE Secretary issued a warning to sailors: in his opinion, the president’s wife, Begonia Gomez, directly influenced the rescue of the airline in 2020.
“What they are insinuating is very bad: that because of a press release (from the ministry, about the rescue operation), Air Europa paid me for the chalet. And Air Europa was not charged, if it was they who offered the bribe? Why isn’t Jessica charged if she participated for profit in the other alleged bribery? Why was he not asked to return the money he collected from public companies? It’s one thing to help put it on, it’s another thing to stop it, which I knew nothing about. Let those responsible for controlling it be held accountable. The contrast is huge. Then some talk about a judicial coup…well The prosecutor issue is child’s play to me.
- Why do you think Air Europa is not charged?
- Because the watermelon of Europa will be opened, and there we can get to Begonia. We can arrive safely. He did not hear that they accuse me of receiving something, nor do they accuse the person who gave it to me. If it’s true that she paid for my vacation, why shouldn’t she be charged with bribery? The answer is simple: because it is not interesting. There is also no interest in taking action against businessman Juan Carlos Cueto, who has completely disappeared. The answer lies in sharing it Devex status. No one disappears into a case just because there is a specific interest.
- And Jessica? Why isn’t she held accountable if it’s clear she benefited?
- Because there would be an agreement: she admitted that she did not work in exchange for not being charged.
Abalos denounces the “helplessness” he suffers from Judge Puente, who stressed that he added in his order of precautionary measures, “as a final conclusion”, an assessment of the “astonishment resulting” from Abalos’ ability “to maintain himself, in the context of the criminal proceedings against him, while exercising the higher duties that correspond to a member of the House of Representatives.”
The former minister now claims that his parliamentary immunity was “lifted on account of some facts but not others,” and that the purpose of the Congress-approved request to investigate him in the Supreme Court has been overstepped. In fact, Abalos believes the entire trial should be canceled, “since things were investigated that were not contained in the application; that is the reason for the cancellation.”
This is something that the former minister himself insisted on in his appeal before the summary procedural order (equivalent to a trial) of the Supreme Court judge, considering himself the victim of an “unbalanced” investigation, without evidence and based only on the statements of the UCO and in which he sees himself “condemned to a gallows in which he can only struggle in vain to claim his innocence.” He believes that justice “revolutionized” him compared to other media issues.
- Why do you think so?
- Because this case is the first, it has gained a lot of scandals. There were a lot of problems about the matter of aunts and reputation. They wanted another stay Air condition at all costs.
- The comparison he made with Minister Torres is striking.
- They accuse me of less than what was said about Torres in the UCO report. There was neither WhatsApp My words when I am accused, only Aldama’s statement. Why aren’t Torres and I charged? I am being investigated without having to do so. The Public Prosecutor’s complaint should never have been addressed, because the materials (masks purchased from Soluciones de Gestión, a company linked to… Koldo conspiracy) It was neither fraudulent nor a failure. Moreover, when accepting the Public Prosecutor’s complaint, the judge says that he does not see “any accused.”
- As if you weren’t…
- in the end. The masks were said to have been purchased under an emergency contract when it was an emergency. There can be no influence peddling because there are no suppliers. It was almost impossible to obtain materials. It was a problem. We (the Ministry) stated that the money was not advanced, but was paid upon receipt of the goods and their quality certificate.
In the end, despite being one of the most powerful people in the country, Abalos feels like it’s all too much for him. The scale of the case astounds him. “I have a feeling that I’m living a fantasy. I wake up in the morning and think this is happening to someone else. I can’t believe that the prosecutor’s office is asking me to go to prison for 24 years.”