The trial against Abalos and Koldo will begin on April 7 at the Supreme Court
They shall be tried for alleged offences of bribery, trafficking in influence, embezzlement, criminal organization, use and use of insider information, falsehood and prevarication.
On 7 April , the Supreme Court will begin the oral hearing against former Minister José Luis Ábalos, former adviser Koldo García and businessman and commissioner Victor de Aldama for alleged irregularities in kissing contracts duringthe pandemic.
The Criminal Division has issued an order rejecting all preliminary questions raised by the defenses of the former minister and the former counsel, so that both will sit on the bench with Aldama.
They shall be tried by the Supreme Court for alleged offences of bribery, trafficking in influence, embezzlement, criminal organization, use and exploitation of insider information, falsehood and prevarication.
The Public Prosecutor's Office requests 24 years' imprisonment for the former minister and 19 and a half yearsfor the former adviser, while the charges request up to 30 years' imprisonment, while for the third accused, the businessman Victor de Aldama, they request 7 years' imprisonment for collaborating with the Public Prosecutor's Office.
Abalos and Koldo have been in pre-trial detention since 27 Novemberbecause of the "extreme" risk of escape.
Armengol and Torres as witnesses, but Sanchez, Marlaska and Illa, no.
The list of witnesses is extensive and more than 75 people will testify, such as the President of Congress Francina Armengol and the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Victor Torres, who have been admitted to testify by the court.
On the other hand, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the President of the Generalitat and former Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, the Vice-President, María Jesús Montero, and the former Minister, Reyes Maroto, will not testify.
In an order of 138 pages, the Chamber rejects all the nullities raised by the defences of Ábalos and Koldo at the preliminary hearing held on 12 February, as well as the allegations of referral of the case to the Spanish National High Court, which were intended to delay the trial, a request which the lawyers reiterated to the Supreme Court earlier this week.
They explain that the reasons of "legal certainty" support the maintenanceof the criterion of the 2014 agreement, according to which, in cases against aphorados, "the opening of oral proceedings is the time when the jurisdiction of the court to prosecute is definitively established, even if after that date the status of aphorate has been lost", as was the case with the resignation of Ábalos from the seat.
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