Supreme Court imposes 24-year prison sentence on former minister Ábalos in Masks case
The High Court has handed down a 24-year prison sentence against José Luis Ábalos Meco, former Secretary of Organisation of the PSOE and former Transport Minister, in the Masks case. It is the first conviction for corruption affecting a member of Pedro Sánchez's current Government.
Supreme Court imposes 24-year prison sentence on former minister Ábalos in Masks case
The Supreme Court has handed down a 24-year prison sentence against José Luis Ábalos Meco, who was Secretary of Organisation of the PSOE and Minister of Transport. The ruling, approved unanimously, constitutes the first conviction for corruption to fall upon a member of Pedro Sánchez's current Executive.
Ábalos, born in Valencia in 1959, has spent virtually his entire career in politics. He took his first public office as a councillor in Valencia's municipal authority at the age of forty. A decade later, in 2009, he entered Congress, where he accumulated responsibilities until becoming one of the most influential figures within the party: socialist leader in Valencia, parliamentary spokesperson, Minister of Public Works and Transport, and finally Secretary of Organisation.
He was considered Sánchez's right-hand man both in Moncloa and at the PSOE's federal headquarters. He was part of the circle that accompanied the president throughout the territory following his expulsion from the party. According to ABC, all members of that inner circle have ended up in prison.
During his defence before the High Court, the accused rejected the allegations with expressions such as "If my crime is loving, then I am guilty", in reference to matters concerning his private life. He also stated: "I cannot end my political career and my trajectory as a corrupt person when I am innocent". Despite this, the judges concluded that he incurred four additional criminal offences beyond those initially alleged.
The scheme was orchestrated in the Transport Ministry, the government department with the largest budget allocation from public funds, during the height of the COVID-19 health crisis, which aggravates the nature of the facts. The verdict has been described as damaging to the credibility of the Government's political project.
The conviction raises questions about the executive head's decisions regarding Ábalos: the reasons for his removal in 2021 and his subsequent return as a deputy in the 2023 elections.
Source: ABC