The former Minister of Transport requested it after the investigating judge incorporated into the summary the report with the conclusions of the audit commissioned by the person who currently holds the same portfolio, Oscar Bridge.
According to Ábalos, this audit is “opaque”, misleading and only seeks to point out to him and attribute to him all the responsibility for the public contracts under investigation in this legal case, those awarded in 2020 by Transports to the company. SL Management Solutions.
The company is considered the epicenter of a system of corruption and collection of illegal commissions, for which, among other senior officials, it is under investigation. Koldo Garciawho was the main advisor and confidant of José Luis Ábalos.
Therefore, in an attempt to discredit Puente’s audit and because of the continual personal data leaks one of his own who appear in the minutes, the former minister asked the judge to appear as injured. The magistrate rejected it. Now, it will be the Criminal Chamber of the National Court that will confirm or annul said decision.
For his part, the president of Iustitia Europa has already expressed his rejection of the possibility of Ábalos doing so. Luis Pardo is also the only accused who, for the moment, has asked the investigator for the former Minister of Transport to be charged. He did so precisely on the basis of the audit commissioned by Óscar Puente. However, this has not been successful.
In a letter to which EL ESPAÑOL had access, Iustitia Europa stresses that, in her opinion, the former minister “has not suffered any direct and concrete harm related to the facts investigated” and that “cannot be considered as harmed” by the “mere contribution of an audit”which “is not sufficient to justify such a personality.”
According to the document, the appeal filed by Ábalos against the judge’s decision not to allow him to appear, “does not provide sufficient legal grounds to justify his revocation.”
“It is neither correct, nor appropriate, nor consistent, nor contemplated, and there is no argument for Mr. José Luis Ábalos Meco to appear harmed only by the provision of evidence such as the audit,” the popular accusation states.
“Otherwise, any person under criminal investigation could be declared defenceless simply because of the existence of unfavourable evidence, thereby rendering the principle of criminal justice meaningless,” he adds.
“And since no direct damage to his person or property has been proven as a result of the facts examined, the case law of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court clearly indicates that the mere existence of evidence in the proceedings is not enough to be considered injured; it must be demonstrated that these tests prove concrete and direct harmwhich was not mentioned in the case we are analyzing,” says Iustitia Europa.
From now on, it will be the criminal court that will decide the procedural situation of Ábalos. May confirm or revoke the decision of the investigating judge of the Koldo casewhich, despite what was requested by Iustitia Europa, rejected, “at this stage of the procedure”, the request to the Supreme Court to indict the former minister.
This court would be the only one competent to do so, since the politician remains qualified, since he is part — since the PSOE suspended him from activism — of the Joint Group of the Congress of Deputies.
