Ábalos and Koldo Imprisoned Over Corruption Scandal Engulfing the Government

A Soto del Real. José Luis Ábalos' greatest fear since the 'Koldo case' erupted in February 2024 became a reality this Thursday at noon. Judge Leopoldo Puente, this time, ordered the unconditional imprisonment of the former minister and his former advisor, Koldo García, after the head of Anti-Corruption, Alejandro Luzón, for the first time in this proceeding and amidst harsh criticism of the deputy, requested the high court to remand both in custody.

Imprisonment without the possibility of bail, because - as the judge explains in his order - the procedural circumstances of both have radically changed, as the flight risk of the deputy and his former right-hand man has significantly increased to the point of becoming "extreme," after the Public Prosecutor's Office requested last week sentences of 24 and 19 years against them, respectively, in the first part of the 'Koldo case' to go to trial, the alleged rigging in the awarding of mask purchases.

In his detention order, the judge insists that, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office and the popular accusation, besides there being "more than sufficient indications of the possible commission of serious criminal acts," the potential risk that these accused "could evade justice is, at this moment, extreme," which he believes cannot be countered by merely maintaining the precautionary measures that have been in place so far (periodic court appearances and passport surrender). In this line, he highlights that there are "numerous rational indications of criminality against both," already formalized in a judicial resolution of indictment.

In the order referring to José Luis Ábalos, the judge agrees that the legal secretary of the Administration of Justice should inform the President of the Congress of Deputies, Francina Armengol, of the detention of the member of parliament.

During the hearings, Alejandro Luzón argued that the preventive detention of both would not be a very harsh measure, because that time in provisional prison - he predicted - will not be very long as it is expected that this first trial of this already macro-case 'Ábalos-Cerdán-Koldo' could be held in three or four months.

The head of Anti-Corruption was particularly forceful in response to Ábalos' criticism that his detention was violating the right to political representation. Luzón reminded him that it was precisely his role as a politician, specifically his membership in a government, that allowed him to commit the crimes he is accused of, then emphasized that "no branch of the State has the right to evade criminal action." "No branch of the State can use it to avoid criminal responsibility, and that is why Justice is represented with a blindfold," he concluded.

According to sources present at the so-called 'article 505 hearings' for the review of precautionary measures, the position of Anti-Corruption was almost identical to that of the popular accusations, which are unified in the legal representation of the PP, and which also requested unconditional imprisonment for the former Transport Minister and his former aide to prevent the risk of them fleeing before sitting in the dock.

They considered - like the Public Prosecutor's Office - that the flight risk of the investigated has worsened following the provisional accusation writings in the aforementioned procedure of the sanitary material contracts, which were awarded by Transport to a company linked to Aldama, Soluciones de Gestión, during the pandemic for 53 million euros.

José Luis Ábalos arrived this morning shortly after 9 a.m. at the Supreme Court to appear at the hearing convened by the investigating judge to review his precautionary measures.

Ábalos entered the high court's headquarters with a small backpack on his shoulder. The only belongings with which he will arrive today at the admission module, probably of Soto del Real, in the Sierra de Guadarrama in Madrid.

For his part, Koldo García, also with a bag with items for the first night in Soto, arrived at 12:25 p.m., just five minutes before his appointment at the Supreme Court. He did so just in time, once his lawyer attended the statement of businessman Víctor de Aldama, which took place less than 200 meters away in the National Court investigating the ramifications of the 'Koldo case.'

Ábalos, former minister between 2018 and 2021, and Koldo, former advisor to Renfe and State Ports, are prosecuted for crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling, embezzlement, and use of privileged information. The Public Prosecutor's Office also requests that they be fined about 3.9 million euros.

For their part, the popular accusations request 30-year prison sentences for both. They attribute the same crimes as the Prosecutor's Office and add two others: prevarication and falsification of an official document.