The Government condemns Ábalos "without nuances" but criticizes Aldama avoiding jail: "It pays to be a corruptor"

The Government has reacted to the mask case ruling with a dual position: total condemnation of the facts for which José Luis Ábalos has been sentenced and evident discomfort over the penal treatment received by Víctor de Aldama, sentenced to four and a half years in prison but without entering jail due to his cooperation with Justice. The Supreme Court's resolution has imposed 24 years and three months on the former Minister of Transport and 19 years and eight months on Koldo García, in a decision that already marks the entire political day.

From Moncloa, they have avoided any nuance about the behaviors accredited in the sentence. “We regret and condemn without nuances behaviors that have clearly violated these principles,” executive sources convey, who claim “transparency, merit, and integrity” as principles of public service. The message seeks to cut any political ties with Ábalos, removed from the Council of Ministers in 2021 and expelled from the PSOE after the case broke out.

The official statement does not mention Ábalos or Aldama by name, but within the Government there is astonishment at the difference in sentences. In the Executive, they consider it difficult to explain that the former minister and his advisor receive such high sentences while the businessman, identified as a key piece of the plot, avoids jail. The suspension of his sentence is conditioned on him not committing crimes, submitting semi-annual reports on his activity, and performing one year of community service.

Puente breaks Moncloa's tone

The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has been the one who has expressed this discomfort most harshly. “Do you see, children? If you commit crimes, but then you behave well and ‘cooperate,’ forgiveness will make its way and with just a small report, you won't even go to prison. It is a tremendously instructive sentence,” he wrote on X. He later insisted ironically that if Aldama includes “healing statements” against corruption or “in defense of the Nation” in his reports, “that will help a lot.”

Puente has also pointed out one of the most sensitive points of the resolution: Aldama will not have to return the 3.7 million linked to the mask commissions. "It has paid off for him," summarized the minister, who has placed the case alongside that of Alberto González Amador, Isabel Díaz Ayuso's partner, after the latest reports on his millionaire income and his businesses with the private health sector.

The second vice-president, Yolanda Díaz, has also expressed surprise at the decision regarding the businessman. "It greatly surprises me that the corruptor does not go to prison," she stated, before demanding firmer measures against those who facilitate corruption. The reading on the left wing of the Government is clear: the sentence harshly punishes the convicted public officials, but leaves a dangerous signal about those who buy influence from outside the Administration.

From the PSOE, for its part, it has defended that it acted "from the first minute" against Ábalos and has attacked Alberto Núñez Feijóo for demanding elections while avoiding asking Ayuso for explanations regarding her partner's case. Ferraz maintains that corruption also portrays those who respond to it and accuses the PP of giving lessons from a headquarters marked by the B-fund, Gürtel, and Kitchen.