Former minister José Luis Ábalos appeared on 17 December at the Supreme Court during the hearing that decided his provisional imprisonment. In his defence, he emphasised that he had no plans to flee and stated: «I have had the opportunity to leave, but I am here.» This statement came after the request from the head prosecutor for Anti-Corruption, Alejandro Luzón, to impose preventive detention, a measure that Judge Leopoldo Puente agreed to shortly thereafter, as well as for his former adviser Koldo García. Ábalos expressed his dissatisfaction at being the subject of a «preventive trial» and a «premature sentence», reminding the court that they already had all the information about him. «They know my way of life, my income, my expenses, they know everything about me.» «If I had wanted to escape, I would have had many opportunities to do so; however, Your Honour, you know that I have not requested a single permit to leave Spain or to go on holiday with my children, whom I have denied that possibility precisely to avoid having to ask for permission.» Ábalos reminded the judge of his weekly attendance at Congress and added that, besides that activity, he lived «virtually under house arrest in his home,» harassed by the media «day and night.»
