The Civil Guard does not clarify the scope of the Ábalos case.
A new report by the UCO (Central University of Madrid) on the assets of José Luis Ábalos has once again ignited the political climate in Madrid, but it doesn't really clarify the true scope of a corruption case that, on paper, could threaten the continuity of Pedro Sánchez's government. In this report, the Civil Guard reveals that Ábalos gave his advisor, Koldo García, almost daily instructions to pay from his bank accounts for expenses that were actually his own. For example, gifts for his lovers, his son's pension, and personal trips. In total, these expenses add up to 95,000 euros, which the Civil Guard suspects Koldo paid with money of dubious origin, but the report does not clarify this.
The other striking part of the report is that it reveals that the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) made cash payments to both Ábalos and Koldo. And it did so with envelopes bearing the party logo and an amount that included cents, suggesting that these were expense reports. The PSOE claims that these payments were completely legal and corresponded to accredited expenses, but the Civil Guard claims they don't match up with what appears in some conversations between those involved. However, it provides no specific figures or evidence that might suggest that these were not expense settlements but rather Bárcenas-style salary allowances. It would also be odd if these irregular payments were made in party envelopes and the amounts weren't rounded.
In any case, the right is using this to try to implicate the PSOE in the case, but the most substantial aspect of the report is the particular relationship between Ábalos and Koldo, in which the latter appears as a sort of treasurer or front man for the former, someone who had money available to him through something that came in handy, the one being sold by the former minister, a mystery in the investigation. In the audio recordings that have been released, it seems quite evident that this money comes from commissions for public works, but there they talked about amounts of up to 500,000 euros for a commission, and this report only confirms the suspicion regarding those 95,000 euros. To give you an idea, it's worth remembering that in the case of the PP, under-the-table payments worth 8 million euros have been documented and that the party's former treasurer, Luis Bárcenas, amassed a fortune of 47 million in Switzerland. Therefore, if we are dealing with a case even remotely similar in terms of figures, the Civil Guard would have only uncovered the tip of the iceberg. But to this day, this iceberg has yet to appear.
However, what remains unclear about this case is how Pedro Sánchez trusted a person of Ábalos's profile, of whom we still don't know if he's a Bárcenas or an heir to the typical Spanish roguery. In any case, it's clear that this man should never have held public office. And that is solely attributable to Pedro Sánchez.
