Former Spanish minister José Luis Ábalos sentenced to over 24 years for mask-procurement corruption

The sentences

The Supreme Court's ruling delivered a crushing verdict for the former minister: José Luis Ábalos received a sentence of over 24 years, and his former advisor Koldo García was handed 19 years. The court found that the criminal organisation operating inside the government had traded on the suffering of Spaniards during the Covid-19 pandemic, using mask contracts to illicitly enrich itself.

No toda reunión en el despacho de un alto cargo implica un posible delito.

Aldama's cooperation and its price

Víctor de Aldama, the businessman and commission agent who acted as the prosecution's key witness, received a four-and-a-half-year sentence that was immediately suspended. He will instead perform community service and will not have to return the €3.7 million commission he pocketed. The court deemed his cooperation decisive, but several of his claims were shown to be false.

Me parece que ese sentido de la colaboración con la justicia es un poco vergonzante.

Accusations the court rejected

The court refused to accept Aldama's assertion that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stood at the top of the criminal hierarchy. Aldama had told the court that Sánchez was "en el escalafón uno," but prosecutors found no evidence to support the claim. Similarly, the allegation that Carlos Moreno, then chief of staff to Finance Minister María Jesús Montero, had taken a €25,000 bribe to defer a tax debt was dismissed.

Si hay una jerarquía, el señor presidente del Gobierno, Pedro Sánchez, está en el escalafón uno.

Political fallout

PP spokesperson Ester Muñoz praised Aldama for pulling back the curtain, while Justice Minister Félix Bolaños suggested the opposition should put the businessman on its electoral lists. The government insisted that some of Aldama's statements were defamatory lies, and refused to compare him with José Luis Peñas, the former PP councillor who secretly recorded the Gürtel network.

Yo les propongo que le metan en las próximas listas electorales del PP.

A framework for future cases

EL MUNDO characterised the ruling as a "sentencia-marco" that draws a detailed map of the birth of a criminal organisation inside the government and warns that none of the crimes would have been possible without the leadership of the PSOE general secretary. Other pending corruption trials are expected to take this jurisprudence into account.

Quienes abran la puerta a mangantes como Aldama, verán los tres próximos mundiales en la trena.