The strategies of Ábalos and Aldama clash in the Supreme Court | Spain

José Luis Ábalos worked hard this Thursday in the Supreme Court to disassociate himself from the possible irregularities committed by his former advisor in the Ministry of Transportation, Koldo García, and the businessman Víctor de Aldama. The former socialist leader, currently a deputy for the Mixed Group, denied before the judge that he had collected cash or any type of compensation from companies supposedly favored by public contracts, accusations that Aldama has borne as proof of his commitment to collaborate with justice. The businessman’s legal strategy will be put to the test next Monday, when he is summoned to testify in the Supreme Court and will be able to explain the details of the documentation that he has delivered in court pointing directly to Ábalos and provide new evidence that reinforces his accusations.

The statement this Thursday by the former minister, which lasted for three hours, has shown the clash between his version and that of Aldama. The former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE has tried to dismantle one by one all the accusations against him made by the businessman. He assured that he never collected commissions from businessmen favored by contracts awarded by his ministry, and denied that some of these awards were granted in advance in exchange for bribes, as Aldama claims. He also refused that a businessman partner of Aldama was responsible for paying for a villa in Cádiz valued at half a million euros. According to what he told the judge, the process to get that house was handled by Koldo García and he paid several months of rent, until his family decided to stop living there. Likewise, he handed over to his former advisor the responsibility for paying the rent for an apartment in the Plaza de España where his then-partner lived.

According to legal sources, the former minister defended the contracting of medical supplies dependent on his department during the pandemic and criticized the audit commissioned by the current minister, Óscar Puente, which revealed that Transport purchased five million masks from the company Soluciones de Management—the epicenter of Koldo plot— despite having submitted a lower-priced and more expensive offer than another company, Injo Technology.

Ábalos knows that Aldama’s testimony puts him on the ropes by reinforcing the evidence collected so far by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. The commission agent testified at the National Court on November 21, but his confession was sent to the Supreme Court that same day. It was there that his lawyer presented a battery of documents on December 4, where a series of alleged evidence was listed to prove the accusations against the former minister and his advisor, Koldo García, to whom he unequivocally attributes the collection of hundreds of thousands of euros in bribes in exchange for favoring the businessman. According to the alleged ringleader of the plot, in addition to paying for granting them million-dollar contracts for the acquisition of masks in the worst of the pandemic, certain companies agreed to pay commissions if they were awarded other works that had been “pre-awarded” irregular thanks to the intermediation of Ábalos.

Precisely, after the presentation by Aldama’s defense of a list of works under suspicion, the former minister tried to delay his statement this Thursday. The former socialist leader alleged that he had not been able to access all the content of the summary due to a computer problem and requested a postponement from Judge Leopoldo Puente, since it was not going to be ready for December 12. The judge rejected it, since he plans to question Víctor de Aldama this coming Monday; and next Tuesday to Koldo García.

The PP takes control

In addition to the war between Aldama and Ábalos, another battle has begun to brew this Thursday within the case opened in the Supreme Court. Of the seven popular accusations presented in the procedure, the instructor has only allowed the PP to be present in the former minister’s statement. The judge has granted the popular legal direction for all of them (since it was the first to join the case) and his intention is that, from now on, the conservative party will be the only one that receives the notifications. This decision has generated discomfort, not only among the accusations, but also in the PSOE. Ferraz sources insist that this decision reinforces his thesis that the PP plays with “the cards marked”—an expression used by Pedro Sánchez himself a few days ago—although the conservative party was actually the first accusation to join the case and that It is the criterion that the judge has used to grant representation of the accusations.

The PSOE has preferred until now, in addition, not to appear as an accusation in the part of the investigation that is in the hands of the Supreme Court, which is mainly directed against its former Secretary of Organization. On the other hand, the socialists have taken the step in the part of the investigation that has remained in the National Court, where Ábalos cannot be charged as long as he remains a deputy. In this court, the investigating judge Ismael Moreno has not yet decided whether or not to unify the accusations under a single legal direction, as the Supreme Court has done. The PP was also the first to join here, so, if they unify, there is the possibility that they will also be designated as representatives of the rest.