José Luis Ábalos has refused to answer the questions from the PP, which leads the popular accusations, and from José Antonio Choclán, Víctor de Aldama's lawyer. In the first case, he justified it by "coherence" after having requested the expulsion of political parties from the case. "It is not the forum for a party's action, it is an unfair use of justice. It does not seek the truth, it seeks to oppose the Spanish government," he justified. Immediately after, he accused the businessman of wanting to "politicize a case to evade responsibilities" and baptized him as a "procedural platypus." It is an expression that Koldo García's lawyer used last week and which also appeared in the defense brief of Ábalos' former advisor, which criticized that he was "an accused who acts as accuser" and that "it is not known if it is accusation or defense." They attribute the expression to professor Manuel Cobo del Rosal.
Ábalos denies having received payments from Aldama and criticizes a "permanent bias" from the Civil Guard
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office maintains its request for seven years in prison for the alleged plot's fixer, while the PP reduces it by one and a half years and opens the door for him to avoid jail.
Madrid"A high-profile case judged a long time ago with a clear conviction." This is how José Luis Ábalos has summarized the face mask case, for which he faces a sentence of between 24 and 30 years in prison. The former Minister of Transport, who has been in Soto del Real for five months, has been the last of the accused to testify, after Víctor de Aldama and Koldo García did so last week. The former strongman of Pedro Sánchez in Moncloa and Ferraz testified for almost six hours and, exhibiting meticulous knowledge of the Civil Guard's reports, denied having received money from Aldama: "To say that it was handed to me in person seems gross. I understand why it's being done. I tell you no, and there is absolutely no evidence." He also criticized the Civil Guard's "permanent bias" and denounced a "certain intentionality" throughout the investigation: "I am struck by the eagerness to implicate me and to find something.
The most tense moment of the day was during the questions from the Chief Prosecutor of Anti-Corruption, Alejandro Luzón, about the cash money of the former number three of the PSOE, after the Civil Guard found payments of 94,800 euros of unknown origin. "This is all the evidence against me. It's what they've found out of the millions they say I've taken," Ábalos protested. "Is a cash deposit of 500 euros per month on average the great face mask corruption case? They've found 94,000 euros because they haven't been able to find anything else. They can try, they won't find anything," he said ironically. "If there were money, it would surface," he concluded.
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Late in the afternoon, the prosecutor announced that he maintains the three initial prison requests. The doubt was whether he would reduce the request for Aldama, for whom he asks for seven years, as his defense claimed following his collaboration with justice. But there have been no changes. Sources from Anticorruption deny that there has been any "imposition" or any "order to the contrary" by the State Attorney General, Teresa Peramato. On the other hand, the PP – which leads the popular accusations – has reduced the prison request for the businessman by one and a half years: it has gone from six years and seven months to five years and two months. No sentence is more than two years, in such a way that he would avoid prison.
The "farce" and the "permanent imposture" of Aldama
In response to his lawyer's questions, José Luis Ábalos has stated that his assets have decreased "considerably" in recent years and has said that, unlike Koldo García, he "never" received 500 euro banknotes from the PSOE. He also took the opportunity to criticize the internal audit commissioned by Minister Óscar Puente: he argued that it has "poisoned" the case and intervened in it in an "unjustified" manner, and accused him of wanting to "undermine the authority" of the Court of Accounts. "For me it was a surprise, I got very angry," he expressed.
He also complained about the "diabolical proof" of having to deny that folios was code for 50 euro banknotes, which is the Civil Guard's thesis. "The burden of proof is reversed, and I have to demonstrate normal terminology because it is assumed that I use criminal language," he lamented. "When I ask for folios, I mean real folios," he wanted to make clear. And he stressed that he never spoke of "xistorras," the expression that Koldo García admitted referred to 500 euro banknotes. One of the first darts he threw was at Víctor de Aldama: "He does nothing but deepen the farce and the permanent imposture," he denounced, alluding to a letter that Aldama claims to have given to Juan Guaidó in the summer of 2019 on behalf of the Spanish government. "The letter is false, it is not signed by me," he added.
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"I am convinced they coerced him"
One of the facts under suspicion is the hiring of Jessica Rodriguez"I am convinced they coerced him"
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The purchase of the masks
José Luis Ábalos has also denied irregularities in the purchase of masks. He said that he did not know "any offer" and that he had no dealings with "anyone", he stressed that his concern was to avoid "being scammed" and he reiterated that his "only obsession" was to obtain sanitary material: "The privilege was to find a supplier", he recalled. Of course, he admitted that in those days Víctor de Aldama visited the ministry and he was "convinced" that he had "information" about the purchases that were being designed. However, he assured that he did not speak with the businessman. He also pointed out that a high-ranking official at the ministry told him not to publish the purchase order with "haste" until there were offers from suppliers: "The pre-selection, I'm not saying there was one, could be done perfectly and it is legal". And he boasted about his management: "It was a success, there were no supply problems".
The Air Europa bailout
The case has also focused on the loan that Air Europa received in the middle of the pandemic and on a press release that was issued in August 2020. Ábalos has also distanced himself: "There was no intervention from me, nor was the idea even mine." And he attributed the initiative to the then Secretary of State for Transport, Pedro Saura, who also took responsibility for it when he testified as a witness. "I did not oppose it, that does not oblige anyone to reward me. Especially when it falls short of the expectations of those who asked for it," justified Ábalos. "Why would they pay me if they are reproaching me for doing nothing?" he asked himself.