The Supreme Court also does not send Koldo García, Ábalos's former advisor, to prison.

MadridFor the second day in a row, the Supreme Court followed a virtually identical script. After José Luis Ábalos appeared yesterday, this Thursday it was Koldo García's turn. Just as the former Minister of Transport did, his former advisor refused to testify, criticizing Leopoldo Puente, the judge in charge of the alleged corruption case at the high court, who opted to release him. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, as was the case with Ábalos, has not requested his imprisonment, even though it sees a certain risk of flight, and the Popular Party (PP) prosecutors, led by the People's Party (PP), have again unsuccessfully requested provisional detention without bail. Thus, Koldo has also avoided prison and is leaving the Supreme Court with the same precautionary measures that were being applied to him: revocation of his passport and biweekly appearances in court. Thus, the former number three of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Santos Cerdán, is the only suspect in the case who is incarcerated.

According to sources present at the hearing, the former advisor justified his right not to testify by the fact that Puente denied him access to the telephone devices and computer terminals seized from him on February 20, 2024, when the Civil Guard heeled the ship. Without the dirt from the audios that were extracted and feed the reports of the Central Operative Unit (UCO) that point to her, Koldo maintains, "she cannot contextualize" the statements attributed to her. The former advisor claimed that "no one can remember conversations from seven years ago." These messages and audios extracted from these terminals have served investigators to bolster, in the latest report that led to this subpoena, an account of the events that reveals that the former advisor allegedly managed Ábalos's black accounting system, with which he paid his personal expenses with money of opaque origin.

The judge echoes this in his ruling, refusing to send him to prison. Although Puente believes the "indispensable intensity" of the risk of flight, destruction of evidence, or repeated offenses does not exist to warrant this decision, he emphasizes that there is "solid" evidence of bribery, influence peddling, and involvement in a criminal organization, which has also been "consolidated." The judge argues this based on the "possible possession of significant amounts of cash, evidently derived from criminal activities," and the fact that he "regularly took care of Ábalos's financial obligations" for a final sum of €94,883.63, which must be added to other possible payments by the former minister.

All of this adds to the UCO report of June 5, which already "consolidated" the evidence of a "possible improper awarding of several public works projects [...] in exchange for several monetary rewards" through "very expressive and eloquent recordings." However, sources from Koldo's defense maintain that both Puente and the popular accusations have admitted that the asset analysis conducted by the UCO "did not reveal the money" that Koldo allegedly accumulated from the alleged profits of this illegal kickback scheme. The former advisor arrived at the Supreme Court about ten minutes before his appointment and after having previously been in the office of his lawyer, Leticia de la Hoz, to prepare for his appearance. On the way from there to the high court, the former advisor was hounded by the press.

The chief prosecutor for Anti-Corruption, Alejandro Luzón, criticized him for being "so talkative" with the media, but for remaining silent within the high court. His defense has justified his statements as "defend himself" against some of the "false" accusations about his personal life related to sexual harassment and gender violence. Also this Thursday, Ábalos denounced on X "the dangerous consequences of propaganda, misinformation, and manipulation." According to the former minister, graffiti appeared at his home accusing him of being "corrupt" and a "whore."

Feijóo joins the judge's "stupor"

After Judge Puente, in the ruling rejecting Ábalos's imprisonment, stated that he understands "the natural stupor" that the former minister can retain his seat in Congress despite the "consistent evidence" against him, Alberto Núñez Feijóo echoed the sentiment. "The vast majority of Spaniards share this stupor," he stated during a media briefing at a breakfast address given by the Galician Prime Minister, Alfonso Rueda. The PP leader rejected the notion that the Spanish government is "decent," as Pedro Sánchez defended during Wednesday's control session, and said that he doesn't understand why any party in the plurinational majority would "once and for all withdraw its confidence" in the Spanish Prime Minister when he is "absolutely surrounded by corruption."

The Popular Party spokesperson in the Senate, Alicia García, joined in the use of the word "stupor." In an appearance in which she announced that the Spanish Prime Minister must appear before the commission of inquiry into the Koldo case on October 30th at 9:00 a.m. Representatives from the Spanish government and the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) expressed the opinion that this is an attempt to cover up the first anniversary of the Valencian Community's insolvency proceedings, which falls the day before, and criticized the judge's words, who urged "reflection" on the appropriateness of the law allowing Ábalos to continue serving as a deputy. "Each branch must intervene in its own sphere," argued the Socialist First Vice President and number two, María Jesús Montero, in statements in the corridors of the lower house.