Spain's Supreme Court sentences Ábalos to 24 years and Koldo to 19 in Koldo case

Spain's Supreme Court puts the Koldo case's top figures in the dock

The Spanish Supreme Court has delivered its verdict in the Koldo case: former minister José Luis Ábalos has been sentenced to 24 years and three months in prison, his aide Koldo García to 19 years and eight months, and businessman Víctor de Aldama to four and a half years. The gap between the sentences has sparked a debate over rewarded cooperation with justice.

The sentences: 24 years for Ábalos, 4 for Aldama

The ruling imposes the heaviest penalties on the political and business leadership of the scheme. Ábalos, former Minister of Transport, receives 24 years and three months. Koldo García, his trusted man, gets 19 years and eight months. The surprise comes with Aldama, initially charged with a requested sentence of seven years from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. The court has reduced his sentence to four and a half years, citing his cooperation with the justice system. The prosecutor had already noted during the trial that rewarding such cooperation encourages future defendants to trinc the same path.

However, it has emerged that Aldama's sentence could be suspended, according to sources close to the case. If confirmed, this would further reduce the businessman's effective time in prison.

The contrast with other cases and the political buzz

Reactions were not long in coming. Some analysts compare these sentences with other landmark proceedings, such as the murder of Tomás and Valiente, where the material perpetrator received 300 years and served barely eight. The question of how much time Ábalos and his 'sidekick' will actually serve hangs over the debate. Meanwhile, political sectors are demanding the Government's resignation, arguing that the scheme reaches the party in power. The verdict, which sends a former minister to prison for corruption, marks a milestone in the judicialization of Spanish politics.