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Ábalos exhausts his headlong rush as the Supreme Court judge warns him that he faces "significant" prison sentences.

Ábalos exhausts his headlong rush as the Supreme Court judge warns him that he faces "significant" prison sentences.

Supreme Court Judge Leopoldo Puente yesterday released former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos , despite seeing an "increasing risk" of flight as the trial approaches. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office did not request the imprisonment of the former PSOE Organization Secretary yesterday.

In the release order, in which the Koldo case investigator upheld the precautionary measures already imposed on the deputy, Puente emphasized the "solid evidence of criminality" against Ábalos, alluding to their "robustness" while highlighting their "unique forcefulness." The man who had the complete confidence of President Pedro Sánchez is charged with membership in a criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling, and embezzlement of public funds.

Nor did it go unnoticed by the investigating judge that, despite the avalanche of evidence suggesting that Ábalos has committed "very serious" crimes, he remains a member of parliament and, therefore, "simultaneously exercising the high functions corresponding to a member of the Congress of Deputies (among them, oversight of government action and the approval of laws)."

The judge believes that the evidence of a crime, which had already been reinforced by the UCO report that led to the imprisonment of Santos Cerdán , has increased again with the most recent report from the Civil Guard on Ábalos's financial situation, which reveals the transfer of cash funds without justified origin by the suspect.

This report "has increased the existence and robustness of the aforementioned evidence, highlighting that the suspect, without using any cash from his bank accounts for several years, nevertheless made significant cash deposits into those same accounts."

Judge Puente ruled out the risk of repeated offenses and tampering with evidence, given the advanced stage of the investigation. Regarding the risk of flight, he indicated that Ábalos "may have had significant amounts of secret funds, perhaps in cash, perhaps deposited in third-party accounts that have not yet been found," as well as "certain international contacts and ties."

The investigating judge also agrees with the Prosecutor's Office that, as evidence of a crime accumulates and the potential trial approaches, the risk of flight "increases." "It is true that the risk that the suspect could evade justice increases, as the body of evidence of the possible commission of serious crimes, punishable by significant prison sentences, increases; and as the date of the oral trial approaches, which could perhaps justify, as the prosecutor suggested in his report, the adoption of more serious precautionary measures in the future," the ruling states.

After rejecting a change in Ábalos's procedural status, the judge addressed the suspect's political situation: "This investigating judge is not unaware of the natural astonishment that arises from the fact that a person, against whom there is such strong evidence of the possible commission of very serious crimes, closely related to the flawed performance of public office, can remain, during the course of the criminal proceedings against him," as a member of parliament. "This, I believe, is a good reason for reflection," the judge concludes.

The former PSOE Organization Secretary opted yesterday, following a dispute with his former lawyer, José Aníbal Álvarez , to invoke his constitutional right not to testify. Ábalos' decision was perceived as such by the investigating judge, who emphasized that the defendant decided "not to provide any reasonable explanation that could justify the existence of those payments for reasons other than those attributed to him in these proceedings; and which, furthermore, appear corroborated by the person who has admitted to making those illicit payments," referring to businessman Víctor de Aldama .

Unlike the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, the public prosecutors did request the imprisonment of the former PSOE Organization Secretary. They did so under the unified legal direction of the Popular Party , on behalf of eight of the nine public prosecutors ( Adade distanced himself from the case). They also requested bail.

CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION. The Supreme Court finds that José Luis Ábalos was part of a criminal network that operated out of the Ministry of Transportation.

INFLUENCE peddling. The case file in the Koldo case shows that Ábalos exploited his privileged public position to carry out criminal activities.

BRIBERY. The former minister is being investigated for several bribes, the counterparts of which also included paying the expenses of his close friends.

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