The Government puts the focus on PP and Aldama for the ‘mask case’: maintains that “it is evident” their joint action

The final stretch of the trial against José Luis Ábalos has intensified the exchange of reproaches between the Government and the Partido Popular, with the focus placed on the actions of the businessman Víctor de Aldama. From the Executive, they consider that the decision of the PP to lower the request for a sentence as popular prosecution reinforces the idea of an "understanding" between both parties within the framework of the so-called ‘mask case’.

The Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, has been especially explicit during the press conference after the Council of Ministers. “The PP asks for the reduction of Aldama's sentence. I want to thank the PP and Mr. Aldama for making it so evident that they are collaborating with each other and each other with them”, he affirmed with irony.

From the Executive, they maintain that this move by the PP is difficult to justify, especially after the accusations made by Aldama, who went so far as to point out without providing evidence to the President of the Government. In this way, the Government uses the reduction of the penalty request as an argument to question the strategy of the party led by the opposition in the process.

For its part, the PP has responded by accusing the Government of trying to influence the Prosecutor's Office to prevent an even greater reduction of the sentence requested for the businessman. Bolaños has flatly rejected these accusations: “It has been a decision of the public prosecutor's office based on technical criteria. Absolute respect from the Government for the decisions adopted by the public prosecutor's office,” he stressed.

In the parliamentary sphere, the spokesperson of the Socialist Group in Congress, Patxi López, described the actions of the PP lawyer as an “absolute barbarity,” considering that the reduction of sentences would allow “the one who has taken five million in commissions to walk free on the street.” Also the spokesperson for Vox in the Lower House, Pepa Millán, expressed her doubts about Aldama, assuring that “he does not inspire any confidence in her” and demanding that all involved “pay without exception.”