The Ministry of Transportation mistakenly attributed to José Luis Ábalos during his first two years as responsible for that department, he never received. This is the conclusion reached by the department now led by Óscar Puente on the alleged collection by this of more than 500,000 euros in “exempt income and exempted diets of tax.” According to Transportes, these amounts refer to the expenses caused by all the components of the delegation that accompanied the minister on his trips, but, during the years 2018 and 2019, transport personnel badly interpreted the finance regulations and understood that the statements of travel expenses of the high positions were equivalent to the diets files of the rest of the Ministry’s staff.
The request for information of the Supreme Instructor responded to a letter sent on Tuesday by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard from the information provided by the Tax Agency within the framework of the investigation open to Ábalos. According to the agents, the data sent by the Treasury included that from the central paying cash of the Ministry of Transport, two payments were recorded to the former Minister, corresponding to the 2018 and 2019 years, for amounts of 156,440.29 (year 2018) and 351,992.72 euros (2019) that are outside the payroll he received as head of that department.
Both games appear described by the Treasury under the generic concept of “exempt and exempted income from tax.” But those income, according to the UCO, “would not have had an identifiable reflection in any of the Caixabank bank accounts” located by the Civil Guard as corresponding to Áballos, so the agents asked the judge to claim to transport detailed information about those payments and the magistrate agreed on Wednesday to that request
After knowing the step taken by the instructor, sources of the Defense of Ábalos pointed out that the former minister denies having received that money and explained that those income could be related to expenses linked to the trips he made (such as flights and hotels) and the officials who accompanied him. The information collected by transport confirms this version.
