The Supreme Court cites the former Maroto Cabinet director for the ‘Abalos Case’ | Spain
Judge Leopoldo Puente, Jose Ábalos Open Research Instructor In the Supreme Court, he has summoned to declare as a witness on May 21 to the former Cabinet Director of the former Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, Juan Ignacio Díaz Bidart. The judge’s intention, according to a notified car on Monday, is to check if he met with businessmen Claudio Rivas and Carmen Pano when they were trying to obtain a license for the sale of hydrocarbons, a management that popular accusations link to the purchase of a house in the line of the conception (Cádiz) enjoyed by the former Minister of Transportation. The magistrate has also summoned Claudia M. for the same day, the woman to which Ábalos allegedly plugged in the Logirail company, a subsidiary of Renfe. The declaration of this woman I was scheduled for May 6, but did not go for a problem with the citation.
The instructor of Ábalos case In the Supreme Court, he continues to take steps to try to verify the accusations that some of the entrepreneurs involved have launched on the former Socialist Minister. Among these accusations, the judge considers that there is “a robust set of indications” that the businessman Víctor de Aldama, allegedly main commissioner of the plot investigating the Supreme, asked Ábalos and his then advisor, Koldo García, who They will mediate to grant the hydrocarbons license to his company Villafuelfor which, meetings with high positions from the Ministry of Industry were allegedly held. In return, says the judge, businessman Rivas, « direct beneficiary of that license », would have acquired, through the company Have Got Time « a home, of the taste of Mr. Ábalos, yielding it to it in lease, with a purchase option. »
In this context, the judge considers « pertinent » to cite the one who was then head of Maroto Cabinet to prove the existence of a meeting with Rivas and Pano, and interrogate him « by the person who could have driven or promoted. » In the letter notified on Monday, the judge emphasizes that it is « evident » that Ábalos and his then advisor « lacked any competition » to grant the hydrocarbon license. « Its function would have been limited in this case, and this is what is attributed here, to ‘open doors’, to facilitate contacts, to expedite procedures, with the purpose of favoring the interests that Mr. De Aldama promoted, » explains Puente.
The magistrate warns that in the case that he instructs “there is not even any indication” regarding the hydrocarbon license or the rescue of Air Europa (which also referred to the accusations in a letter presented in the Supreme) were irregular. « The existence of any indication that any person agreed before this Supreme Court, since not Mr. Ábalos Meco, could have incurred in relation to them in a supposedly criminal conduct, » says the judge, who recommends popular accusations that, if they have indications otherwise, take it to the courts.
Díaz Bidart’s statement is the only one that accepts the battery instructor of new appearances requested by the parties. For now, it does not admit that of the former Secretary of State for Transportation, Pedro Saura, nor that of the former president of Renfe, Isaiah Taboada, who, according to the accusations, could mediate for Claudia M.’s contract in Logirail. Nor accept the appearance of the manager or two other employees of that Renfe subsidiary, nor that of Koldo García’s wife.
