Guide to not getting lost in the trial against Ábalos

Madrid“An agreement that had as its object the future commission of crimes as opportunities to commit them arose”. After a year and a half of investigation, 30 years in prison. On the table will be nine crimes, including membership in a criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling, and embezzlement.

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The main pillar of the case, dubbed the 'mask case', is the purchase of masks by Ports de l'Estat and Adif –two public companies dependent on the Ministry of Transport– from Soluciones de Gestión, the company at the epicentre of the alleged scheme. Víctor de Aldama obtained “prior and privileged information” about the contract, enabling this company to form alliances with other firms even before the tender was published. Aldama stated that he himself created, in April 2020, an Excel document that projected a commission of 2 million euros for Ábalos and 500,000 euros for Koldo, which they had allegedly requested from him. Aldama believed they could not aim for such high amounts, but it is unclear what remuneration they would have ended up receiving for this operation. On the other hand, in his defence statement, Ábalos completely denies having carried out any “criminal plan” to facilitate public contracts in exchange for a commission: “There were no illegal earnings”, he stresses. He also emphasizes that the prices paid were neither “excessive” nor “higher than market prices or those paid by other administrations”.

Likewise, the trial will also focus on other episodes where Ábalos allegedly took advantage of his influence: the hiring of his partner and his lover –at different times– in public companies, the rescue of Air Europa and the publication of a press release that reassured creditors, and Koldo's efforts to facilitate meetings between businessmen and the cabinet chiefs of the then ministers Reyes Maroto and María Jesús Montero. The gifts that the Prosecutor's Office claims Ábalos received –and which he also denies– included the payment of rent for Jessica Rodríguez's apartment, a villa in Marbella where he spent a few days in August 2020, and a villa in Cadiz that he rented for a few months in 2021.

Ábalos and Koldo's cash

The main consideration that Aldama claims to have paid Ábalos and Koldo was 10,000 euros per month in cash, which he allegedly delivered between October 2019 and July 2022. He gave them to the advisor, who would split them with the minister. Sometimes Koldo's brother would receive them, and he even allegedly traveled twice to the Dominican Republic. The former minister denies this: "There is no flow of 10,000 euros per month, neither directly nor through intermediaries.

However, the investigating judge refers to a Guardia Civil report on his assets. While Ábalos was minister, his cash income "increased significantly" and, in contrast, cash withdrawals "disappeared completely." And a very similar pattern was reproduced with Koldo: a "significant increase" in income and a "very sharp decrease" in banknote withdrawals. Leopoldo Puente suspects that the money could come from an "irregular source." Despite this, Ábalos's defense maintains that there are no "significant changes" and that the "deviations one would expect to find" are not observed, considering that it is about "large sums of money."

Aldama's confession

One of the strong reasons that led Judge Leopoldo Puente to send the three accused to trial was everything that Victor de Aldama has been declaring throughout the investigation. "The statements are relevant in many cases to clarify what happened and have been corroborated by other results of the investigation," he maintained. Along the same lines, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office argued that Aldama has made "relevant and truthful statements that coincide with the evidence that has been incorporated into the proceedings."

In fact, this collaboration has allowed the penalties requested by the public prosecutor and the PP to be significantly lower than those of the other two defendants. However, Aldama is not satisfied and wants to further reduce the penalty with the "highly qualified" mitigating circumstance of confession. He appeals to his "proactive collaboration" with justice from an "early date" and emphasizes that it has allowed to "promote and expand" the investigation with "writings, documentary evidence and various judicial statements." For his part, Ábalos frames his statements as "exaggerations" to attribute an "official capacity and influence" over him.

97 witnesses in thirteen sessions

The trial will last all of April with thirteen sessions and 97 witnesses. Two of the names that draw attention are the president of Congress, Francina Armengol, and the minister Ángel Víctor Torres, who presided over the Balearic and Canary Islands during the pandemic. However, the Supreme Court has exempted them from testifying in person and has allowed them to send a written report with the answers. Among the witnesses who will have to undergo oral questioning are Koldo and Ábalos's relatives, Jessica Rodríguez and Claudia Montes, the heads of cabinet for Maroto and Montero, Isabel Pardo de Vera – former president of Adif, who is being investigated by the National Court – or the former manager of the PSOE.