Blow to the PSOE: José Luis Ábalos received 24 years in prison for corruption

The Spanish Justice dealt one of the hardest blows to socialism in recent years by sentencing former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos to 24 years and 3 months in prison for crimes of organized crime, bribery, embezzlement, and influence peddling.

The ruling, unanimously issued by the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, also sentenced his former advisor Koldo García to 19 years, 8 months, and one day in prison, as it was proven that both were part of a corruption structure that operated from the highest echelons of power during the PSOE government.

The verdict represents a devastating blow to the party that governs Spain and judicially confirms the allegations that for years pointed to a network of favoritism, bribery, and the use of public resources for private purposes.

A criminal organization entrenched in the State

According to the ruling, Ábalos, Koldo García, and businessman Víctor de Aldama formed a criminal organization with a perfectly defined division of functions to benefit from public contracts and obtain illegal economic advantages.

The judges found it established that the scheme intervened in the awarding of the supply of 13 million masks to state agencies during the pandemic, taking advantage of the health emergency to direct million-dollar contracts.

Additionally, the court established that Ábalos received 10,000 euros monthly for personal expenses, money that was part of the illegal payment scheme orchestrated by the network.

Irregular hiring, housing, and political favors

The judicial resolution also confirmed a series of personal benefits obtained by the former socialist minister.

Among them are:

• The hiring of two people linked to Ábalos in public companies.

• The payment for housing for one of them.

For the judges, these facts are part of a systematic pattern of using political power to obtain personal benefits.

Aldama received a reduced sentence for cooperating with Justice

Businessman Víctor de Aldama was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison, although he received a significant reduction in his sentence due to his cooperation with the investigation.

The Supreme Court valued his cooperation with Justice as "very qualified" and decided to suspend the execution of the sentence under certain conditions, including performing community service and periodically submitting reports on his activities.

His testimony was considered key to reconstructing the internal workings of the scheme and proving the involvement of the main parties implicated.

A scandal that strikes Spanish socialism

The conviction against Ábalos represents one of the largest corruption scandals affecting the PSOE in recent years and revives the ghosts of other historical cases that marked the Spanish left.

The ruling also leaves a devastating image for the socialist government, as one of its most important former ministers was found guilty of being part of a criminal structure that exploited public resources and state contracts for personal gain.

With this ruling, the Supreme Court establishes that behind the so-called "Koldo case" there was an organization dedicated to corruption from the very heart of political power.