Madrid, Nov 27 (EFE).- Socialist deputy and former transport minister José Luis Ábalos (2018-2021) was sentenced by the Supreme Court to provisional imprisonment without bail for his alleged involvement in a plot involving irregular contracts for face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Judge Leopoldo Puente also ordered provisional imprisonment without bail for Ábalos’ former advisor, Koldo García, allegedly involved in the corruption scheme that has tarnished the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Both Ábalos and García entered the Soto del Real prison near Madrid on Thursday afternoon.
The judge justified the preventive detention on an “extreme” and “maximum” flight risk, which increased with the “foreseeable imminent trial” and “the non-appealable nature of the sentence.”
He also highlighted that Ábalos may have “received and handled significant amounts of cash,” and considered it reasonable that the former minister “could have sufficient financial resources to undertake and sustain his escape.”
A plot involving other former senior officials
Ábalos and his former advisor are suspected of several crimes related to illegal commissions in the alleged irregular awarding of contracts for face masks during the pandemic.
The plot is part of the so-called “Koldo case,” involving an alleged corruption network in which construction companies, introduced by businessman and alleged commission agent Víctor de Aldama, allegedly paid illegal commissions for the irregular awarding of public works contracts.
The then Minister of Transport is suspected of having allegedly received financial compensation for these favors.
Santos Cerdán, the former secretary of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Pedro Sánchez’s right-hand man until a few months ago, is also implicated in the operation, and was also placed in preventive detention for almost five months until Nov 19.
Rally against Sánchez
The leader of the opposition Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, called a rally in Madrid on Sunday to protest against Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
“When all those who elevated him go to prison, Sánchez must leave the Moncloa,” said the Popular Party leader.
The alleged illegal activities of important former senior officials, once very close to Sánchez, have fueled the opposition’s criticism of the president and a call for early elections.
In the absence of an official reaction from the Socialist party leadership, sources within the PSOE consulted by EFE said: “We were already expecting this.”
They also pointed out that it is still “not a final conviction,” although they admit that they are preparing for this court decision.
Congress proceedings
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, Congress (the lower house of the Spanish Parliament) has begun proceedings to suspend Ábalos from his parliamentary duties and powers.
Although MPs only lose their seat after a final sentence, the regulations do allow certain measures when a member of parliament is in preventive detention, meaning Ábalos can not vote or receive his parliamentary salary.
The former minister resigned from his positions within the PSOE in February 2024, but refused to give up his seat in Congress, as requested by his party, which suspended him as a socialist member. As a result, he was part of the Mixed Group.
Ábalos is the first active member of parliament to be imprisoned in Spain, as other former parliamentarians who had been convicted had previously resigned.
He is also the fifth former minister to be imprisoned, joining fellow socialist José Barrionuevo and Popular Party members Jaume Matas, Rodrigo Rato, and Eduardo Zaplana. EFE
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