The judge takes away Ábalos' passport and forces him to appear every two weeks

MadridWith the approval of Congress for the Supreme Court to investigate him, José Luis Ábalos has appeared again before Judge Leopoldo Puente, who is investigating the case of alleged corruption in the awarding of contracts during the pandemic. After hearing him for the second time, the magistrate has agreed to withdraw the passport of the former Minister of Transport, prohibit him from leaving the State and force him to appear in court every fifteen days, as requested by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the popular accusation exercised by the PP, which groups the remaining sixÁbalos was before the judge for less than an hour, and in this brief statement, according to legal sources, he again defended his innocence, in line with what he had already declared in December, when he was questioned for more than three hours. Unlike the previous summons, the deputy of the mixed group did not want to make statements to the media.

Ábalos is under investigation for alleged crimes of bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling and criminal organisation. The investigating magistrate had already withdrawn the passports of the other two main suspects – the commissioner Víctor de Aldama and the former advisor to Ábalos Koldo García – and had ordered them to appear in court every two weeks. With this decision, Puente is applying the same criteria to Ábalos now that he no longer has parliamentary immunity after the lower house approved the request to investigate him a month ago. The investigating magistrate justifies this by the "particular seriousness of the criminal acts attributed to him" and because he believes that there are still indications of possible commission of criminal offences by the former number three in the Socialist Party. He also argues that they are "fully proportionate" because Ábalos' defence has said that he does not plan to make any trips.

Ábalos maintains that Aldama's accusations are false. The commissioner assured the magistrate himself that the former minister and his former advisor received commissions in exchange for the awarding of public contracts during the pandemic. In addition, Aldama splashed other PSOE officials without providing conclusive evidence. On the other hand, in the previous appearance before the judge, Ábalos avoided pointing out any member of the Spanish government or his former party. In the new statement this Thursday, Ábalos assured that his assets are clean and that he only has a flat in Valencia and a business premises. The former minister has denied before the judge, as he had already done in X, the reports that say he has a mansion in Peru.

However, in the order in which Puente sets the precautionary measures, the judge points out that "it appears indicatively justified" that Ábalos "could have benefited economically from the payment" by Aldama or third parties represented by him of the rent of a house "in which the person he was then resided." and another contract with an option to buy a flat in Madrid whose sale price was "apparently much lower than the market price." In another order, the magistrate rejected an appeal by Ábalos who claimed that the investigation was trying to carry out a "general review" of his "life and work." Puente denied that it was a prospective investigation and assured in the resolution that he has "no animosity of any kind" towards the former minister.

The flats with "ladies"

The judge also asked him about the apartments that Aldama claimed to have rented so that Ábalos and the minister Ángel Víctor Torres could meet with "young ladies". The former Minister of Transport has distanced himself from these alleged meetings, as Torres has already done publicly. In a document sent this week to the high court, Aldama accredited the rental of apartments through Airbnb for one night - that of November 9-10, 2018 and that of December 15-16 of the same year - but told the judge (who asked him for proof) that he was not in charge of managing that he was there. However, he does not know if there were any and he did not prove the presence of Ábalos and Torres either.

Meanwhile, the Spanish government remains outside the procedure. The Minister of Digital Transformation, Óscar López, has assured that the current PSOE "has no worries whatsoever." The spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, has also affirmed that she is "absolutely calm." On the contrary, the PP has taken the opportunity to point the finger at the head of the executive. "Everything points to Sánchez, corruption is cornering him," the number two in the PP, Cuca Gamarra, told X.