Alvaro Sanchez Manzanaresthe former secretary general of the public company Puertos del Estado, declared himself under investigation before the judge of Koldo case.
This former senior official of the Ministry of Transport intervened in the process of awarding the contract -today, under suspicion- to the company SL Management Solutionsconsidered the epicenter of the alleged corruption plot dedicated to collecting illegal commissions.
During his interrogation, the former head of the State of Ports assured that he was carrying out “the orders of the Ministry”, headed, at the time, by Jose Luis abalones.
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Subsequently, he stated that “above [de su cargo en Puertos del Estado] There is only the Ministry and the Council of Ministers.” This is what the sources present during the interrogation told EL ESPAÑOL.
The accused only answered questions from the prosecutor and his own lawyer. He refused to respond to the popular accusations in this case, which include the political parties Iustitia Europa and Vox and the associations Liberum and Hazte Oír.
Throughout his statement, which lasted just over half an hour, Sánchez Manzanares stressed that the contracts investigated, signed in 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, were signed in a health “emergency” situation.
He recalled, however, that the ministerial decree for the purchase of eight million masks It bore the signature of the head of Transport of that date, who was none other than José Luis Ábalos. Therefore, he defended that he had simply executed it.
Álvaro Sánchez Manzanares, this Wednesday, at the National Court.
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The interested party was also questioned about the trust that the company Soluciones de Gestión SL had in the Transports authorities. Álvaro Sánchez Manzanares indicated that at that time they had “doubts” about all the companies, due to the very delicate situation of the health market derived from the coronavirus pandemic. He assured that he had expressed his “concern”, but in the same way that he did with other companies that sent their offers to the Ministry.
On the other hand, the prosecutor in charge of the case, Luis Pastor, questioned the investigator about the emails he sent to two other of the main defendants in this judicial case: Koldo GarciaAbalos’ chief advisor and confidant, and Victor de Aldamathe businessman considered as the project commissioner and intermediary in favor of Soluciones de Gestión SL.
Álvaro Sánchez Manzanares, who was fired in March shortly after the investigation was revealed, said Wednesday that he had been transferred e-mail information in a timely manner to anyone who feels they need to know about it. All of this is part of – as indicated – a normal procedure, within the framework of an already abnormal health situation.
‘Alvarito’s’ e-mails
Sánchez Manzanares, however, credited Koldo García with a leading role in these efforts, which culminated in the signing of a contract between Puertos del Estado and Soluciones for the acquisition of eight million masks. 20 million euros. In one of the e-mails Included in the summary of the case, revealed by EL ESPAÑOL, the former general secretary of the public company jokes with a subordinate.
“After that we will manage the Cali cartel…”, he joked during a conversation with his head of the contracts and risk management area, Aránzazu de Miguel Peña, when she expressed her doubts about the contracting process.
Transcripciones de los correos electrónicos intercambiados por Sánchez Manzanares y su equipo.
Durante el intercambio de correos, Alvarito, como así se le apodaba en Transportes, intentó calmar los ánimos de su equipo, en especial de Aránzazu, cuando se muestra “crítica” con las adjudicaciones. “Sólo espero no acabar en el fondo del [río] apple orchards with a concrete slab underfoot,” he even told him.
This contract was awarded urgently on April 20, 2020, but the evidence shows that the company was already in contact with the public body a month earlier, on March 21. This is proven by the emails intercepted by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard.
In another email, his Alvarito acknowledged that Soluciones de Gestión SL was only an intermediary for the purchase of masks and that, in fact, it was “the company which gives us less reliability throughout the operation.
