Anti-corruption requests the indictment of Ábalos in the Koldo case

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has sent a report to the judge in the Koldo case in which it requests the indictment of former Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos. In the document, the specialized Prosecutor’s Office supports that Judge Ismael Moreno submit a reasoned statement before the Supreme Court requesting the indictment of Ábalos, since the current deputy is registered before the High Court. The crimes that the Public Ministry attributes indirectly to the deputy are bribery, influence peddling and membership in a criminal organization, according to sources from the Prosecutor’s Office.

The Anti-Corruption prosecutor’s letter focuses on the evidence provided by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard in the report known last week and that places Ábalos in “a relevant and responsible role” in the ‘Koldo plot’. , the case of alleged corruption in the purchase of medical supplies during the pandemic with Government contracts that nested in the Ministry of Transportation that he directed between January 2020 and July 2021.

The Civil Guard attributes Ábalos to a decisive role in granting the plot a 20 million euro contract for medical supplies and, at the same time, considers him indirectly a recipient of gifts, such as the enjoyment of a chalet that a businessman would have acquired. of the network and the payment of the rent for an apartment in the center of Madrid to the former minister’s partner.

Ábalos has informed the National Court that he renounces the prerogative of testifying in the Supreme Court and has agreed to do so before the judge investigating the case. For his part, Judge Moreno, who had already initiated the procedures to refer the case to the Supreme Court, asked Congress to certify his status as a deputy and, therefore, as a member of the Supreme Court. The Lower House complied with the requirement this Tuesday.