The PSOE paid cash expenses to Ábalos that the Civil Guard does not agree with.

MadridThe Civil Guard's Central Operational Unit (UCO) is tightening its grip on José Luis Ábalos and casting a shadow of suspicion on the PSOE. In a nearly 300-page report submitted to the Supreme Court as part of the investigation into the alleged corruption scheme, the UCO reveals that the party paid cash expenses to the former Minister of Transport and former Socialist number three. The PSOE has acknowledged this—the party handed over, at the request of the high court, documentation to investigators detailing the deliveries—and, according to the party's version, "all cash payments have their expense vouchers and are justified." However, the UCO disagrees and, in its report, asserts that the amounts it suspects Ábalos actually received in envelopes containing cash do not match the amounts declared by the PSOE. "To claim that the PSOE has irregularly paid Ábalos or anyone else is slander," the Socialists responded in a statement.

Why is the UCO questioning this? Investigators compared the amounts the PSOE reported it had given in cash to Ábalos with conversations about payments held between his former advisor, Koldo García, who is also under investigation, and his ex-partner, Patricia Uriz. "Certain payments" they mention coincide with the information the party has declared, but "within the evidence examined, other cash payments have emerged that were allegedly made by the PSOE without any supporting documentation or information," the UCO asserts. The report maintains that this "lack of consistency" is "relevant insofar as it points to a source of undeclared income" and that "this would not be an isolated incident."

The Ferraz envelopes

"I already have the envelope from Ferraz." It is a message from Uriz to Koldo sent on September 18, 2018. According to the conversations included in the report, the ex-wife of Ábalos's former advisor had repeatedly been responsible for collecting the money intended for both the former minister and her husband. The PSOE documentation includes cash expense settlements for Ábalos amounting to €19,638.97 paid between 2017 and 2021. During the same period, Koldo received €12,744.73 in both cash and by bank transfer for the same purpose. One of the payments that the Civil Guard does not agree with these declared amounts is from the end of June 2019.

Uriz sent Koldo an image of an envelope with the PSOE logo, Ábalos's name written by hand, and the figure of €826.73. According to the information provided by the party, the former minister was only paid an amount of 321.29 euros that month. This represents a difference of 505.44 euros. The UCO considers the amount "shouty" due to another conversation between the couple in February of the same year. Koldo told his wife, supposedly in coded language, that he received "one or two 500 euro bills" a month. These bills were "denominated in agreed language as chistorra", maintains the UCO. The report says that the former advisor asked Uriz to transfer someone named Luis who was "ashamed to give anyone these chistorras"for the position he held.

The UCO gives another example. "Did they give you 8,000 or so last time?" This is what Uriz asks Koldo that June, allegedly about the payments received between February and March 2019. On those dates, the settlement of expenses made by the 8th to 0.000 Ábalos of 1,183.29 euros. "Both amounts are significantly lower than the figure of 8,000 euros that Patricia referred to," says the report. Feijóo, in X.

For the PP, it is proven that Sánchez "institutionalized corruption from his first day in Moncloa" and "there is no smokescreen that can hide it." The PSOE, on the other hand, states in the same statement that the UCO report "demonstrates the absolute transparency with which [the party] has acted in this procedure." The Socialists affirm that it is clear that "there is no illegal financing" of the PSOE and allege that in another part of the report, the UCO acknowledges that the payrolls Ábalos received from the PSOE and the donations he made to the party do match the documentation.

95,000 euros without justification

Separately, the Civil Guard has detected expenses by the former Minister of Transport and former Socialist Party deputy that have no bank justification. They amount to 95,437 euros. This reinforces the investigators' theory of "the existence of undeclared cash income," which, moreover, coincides with the time when the alleged irregularities occurred.