Corrupt political corruption

The prime minister has argued the "national interest" in the midst of the Israeli political crisis and has received the support of his ministers while the country remains polarized by the judicial process.

The former ministerial adviser tells the magistrate that he has no information to answer. Judge Leopoldo Puente calls to testify on the latest report by the Central Operational Unit of the Civil Guard (UCO) on contracts for the purchase of masks and antigen tests or PCR tests. 

A summary, in two words, of what will be news in the Present today.

The Government will be left with one less Member, since Ábalos has tended to vote in line with the PSOE, and given that Junts has announced his vote against all the Government's proposals, things will become a little more difficult for the Government in Congress.

Supreme Court Judge Leopoldo Puente has decided to temporarily send former Minister José Luis Ábalos and his former adviser Koldo García to prison without bail for alleged irregularities in the sale of masks by the Ministry of Transport during the pandemic. 

A summary, in two words, of what will be news in the Present today.

The judge investigating the 'Koldo case' opened a separate line of investigation to investigate cash payments made by the PSOE. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office has ordered the PSOE to request the registration of payments over the past six years. 

For her part, the first Vice-President and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, has denied having held this meeting and has confirmed that she is not concerned about what former Minister José Luis Ábalos may say.

The 95-year-old former president has been hospitalized from mid-November until last Friday, suffering from pneumonia, and the trial will begin by deciding whether he can go to trial because of his state of health and be in a position to face the 9-year prison sentence requested for him by the Public Prosecutor's Office. 

The president of the EBB, Aitor Esteban, has denounced the "attempt" to link the PNV to the Cerdán network of the People's Party and the "close media," but has stressed that "there is absolutely nothing." "We are calm and we will not be blown up by four headlines that are not real." Esteban has stressed that he only met once with former PSOE Secretary of Organization Santos Cerdán to negotiate a motion of censure against Mariano Rajoy.

Supreme Court Judge Leopoldo Puente has released former PSOE Secretary of Organization Santos Cerdán on the grounds that the risk of destruction of evidence is "very mitigated."

President Maria Chivite in China has declared that there is no corruption in her government. The parties that support the foral government have expressed concern and called for caution. The opposition has insisted that Chivite is surrounded by corruption.

On Wednesday, the Chief Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, Alejandro Luzón, presented to the Supreme Court a brief of provisional findings requesting 19 and a half years' imprisonment for former ministerial adviser Koldo García and another 7 years and a fine of 3.7 million euros for network commissioner Victor de Aldama.

The President of Navarre has stressed that it was precisely her Government that "requested internal and external audits and is collaborating with the Committee of Inquiry opened in Parliament" with a "transparency exercise". As Secretary-General of the PSN-PSOE, she has stressed that she was not aware of what was said in the UCO's latest report and has strongly rejected the facts "because we come to serve politics and not to profess it".

A summary, in two words, of what will be news in the Present today.

They deny having requested three public offices from the Spanish Government and reject that the Civil Guard has anything to do with the alleged plot of public works, after a UCO report implicated the party in the 2018 "applications for appointments".

UPN and the Navarre PP have attacked the President of the Foral Government, María Chivite, while the PSN has lamented the "unacceptable behaviour" of former socialist leader Santos Cerdán.

The President of the Spanish Government has stated that the Government "has cooperated with the justice system" and "has acted firmly", so it is now incumbent upon it to "await the conduct of investigations".

The PNV denies the information contained in the Civil Guard report. Jeltzales say they have no connection with the corruption plot being investigated in the 'Koldo case' and claim that they know nothing about the requests for appointment.