Koldo García, who was an advisor to José Luis Ábalos in the Ministry of Transportation, has asked the Supreme Court to order the Soto del Real prison, where both of them are allowed to meet with their lawyers, with the computer devices they require and without “physical barriers”, to be able to prepare their defense for the alleged bribes that they would have received in exchange for awarding public contracts to buy masks in the middle of the pandemic.
In a writing, to which EL PAÍS has had access, Koldo García’s lawyer, Leticia de la Hoz, denounces that, despite the fact that the Supreme Court authorized the use of the necessary means to prepare the oral hearing, the penitentiary center has been denying it in a “systematic manner.” Specifically, the defense of the former ministerial advisor asked to be able to meet with Ábalos and his lawyer, Marino Turiel, in a room without a screen and with a laptop.
The lawyer argues that, otherwise, it is “impossible” to put together “an effective defense.” He sees these “joint work meetings” as “essential” to “contrast the enormous documentation that affects them in common”, as well as doing so in a physical space “without barriers” and with the appropriate computer means that allow this joint examination of the case to be carried out.
Although the lawyer explains that she has appealed Soto del Real’s decision through the corresponding channel – before the prison surveillance judge – she believes that the quickest way to obtain permission is for the Supreme Court to order it directly.
This complaint reinforces what was evident at the Supreme Court meeting on February 12 as a prelude to the trial: the defense strategies of Ábalos and his former right-hand man go hand in hand. At that hearing, De la Hoz raised a string of nullity issues, while rejecting that the high court was competent to judge the case, even demanding that the Court of Justice of the European Union be consulted on this aspect, which would have meant paralyzing the judicial procedure. sine the. Turiel, who assumed the defense of Ábalos last January – after Carlos Bautista, due to financial disagreements – adhered to everything proposed by García’s defense. These attempts, however, had little success.
In the dock will sit Ábalos and García, who face requests for up to 30 years in prison, and the alleged achiever of the plot, the businessman Víctor de Aldama, for whom the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the popular accusations – led by the PP – only demand seven years in prison, an ostensibly lesser sentence that is due to his. It will be the first trial of the Koldo casewhich is still facing a dispute, where investigations continue into alleged irregularities in the awarding of contracts for both the purchase of medical supplies and public works. In this other line of investigation, the former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE Santos Cerdán is the main accused.
