The president of the Central Court of Instruction number 2 of the National Court, Ismael Moreno, once again rejected that the former minister José Luis Ábalos enters as a victim in the Koldo case, a claim that he used for prejudice that, he claims, is what earned him the audit ordered by Minister Óscar Puente. The judge once again closes the door to the appearance and also sends him a message: “the discrepancies with the content of the audit report of the Ministry of Transport must be debated or questioned in other forums but not within the framework of this procedure”.
In a resolution to which ABC had access, Moreno thus rejects the call for reform that Ábalos presented against the first refusal. Already at the time, Anti-Corruption was opposed to it, describing it as “difficult, if not impossible” to consider it as harmed by the crimes under investigation, such as criminal organization or drug trafficking. influence. In response to the appeal, he reiterates his position, which the judge once again assumes without nuance.
However, he included in his argument a “new element”, as the instructor’s order underlines, linked to the “irreparable damage caused by the publication in various media of information linked to the processing of the case” and which nothing was put on the table when he initially requested entry as an injured party.
“In this sense, it should be noted, as the applicant indicates in his writings, that possible revelations about the procedural acts are the subject of an investigation by the Madrid investigating court,” responds the judge. Ábalos himself triggered this ongoing leak case by presenting himself to the prosecutor’s office.
But Ábalos’ appeal is a subsidiary appeal, which means that it will be the Criminal Chamber that will ultimately decide whether, as he claims, the damage he suffers due to the progress of the investigation and the publications in the resulting press justifies the exercise of his right to be harmed in this case, which would allow his defense to participate fully in the investigations and to propose prosecutions or to question for example.
