The commissionaire Víctor de Aldama has won the trust of José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García secure a reservation at Madrid’s elitist Amazónico restaurant for a secret meal between the then Minister of Transport and Pepe Blancoformer head of Public Works and former organizational secretary of the PSOE during the José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
EL ESPAÑOL had access to the messages between the commission agent of the Koldo affair and his brother Rubenescort of Ábalos, which were seized by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard in the electronic devices of Aldama. They show this first meeting during which Aldama managed to establish a relationship with the head of the Transport portfolio.
August 21, 2018. Ábalos has been Minister of Transport for only two months, after the motion of censure against the government of Mariano Rajoy. Rubén de Aldama asks his brother to make reservations at a good restaurant in Madrid for the meeting between Ábalos and Pepe Blanco.
The commissioner of the Koldo affair, in preventive detention for fraud 182 million euros to the Treasury with hydrocarbon companies, offers you the Amazónico restaurant located on Jorge Juan street.
“You’ll be surprised because it’s a stand for 10 people,” Aldama told his brother. “It’s going to be hell since it’s reserved “It’s for him and another person,” replies the messenger to the escort, when asked if “such a large table” will not be bad.
Víctor de Aldama breaks down the details with Mariela, head of the hotel group that manages some of Madrid’s most famous restaurants like Amazónico, El Paraguas, Ten con Ten…
Makes the reservation on behalf of Ábalos. However, his brother asks him to change it so that the reference is the advisor to the Minister of Transport. Finally, the attendant declares that he will take care of it when he goes to the restaurant before the meal.
The meeting between Ábalos and Pepe Blanco took place a day later, on August 22, 2018, at 2:30 p.m. The man who was Zapatero’s right-hand man founded Acento a few months later, one of the most important lobbies in Spain, with multiple interests in subcontracting companies of the Ministry of Transport.
Aldama offered to pay the bill: “Do you want me to invite him or does that bother him?” His brother, accompanying the minister, replied: “No no. “Koldo kills me”.
Later, Rubén explains: “Anyway, I called him [a Koldo] and I told him that coming from you, they were going to be invited. I told them no so that the minister wouldn’t feel bad and he told me yes, better, that it could be fine later.”
Koldo then became interested in knowing who was the brother of the minister’s bodyguard who had this power of access to the most exclusive premises in the Spanish capital.
Things were going well for the Aldama brothers in the following years. Victor began doing business with Koldo and Ábalos in the name of this ministerial portfolio and with all kinds of contacts, public, private and even with high officials of Chavismo in Venezuela.
Rubén, his brother, would be chosen years later for a coveted position in the police after completing his service at the Ministry of Transport. He got a place at the Moscow embassy, which is considered a prize within the police force. The salary of an agent with this responsibility is 13,000 euros per monthaccording to this newspaper.
Cover letter
Managing restaurant reservations was Víctor de Aldama’s letter of introduction to the minister and his advisor. Only ten days later, on August 31, 2019, the relationship between the commission agent and the “pair formed by Koldo – Ábalos” began, as defined by the UCO in its investigations.
It was on this date that Aldama met the minister and his advisor. “You have the courage to do things,” the Ábalos goalkeeper told him.. The UCO dates the first proven payment of the conspiracy’s “corrupt link” to senior government officials a year later, in October 2019.
As EL ESPAÑOL published, Koldo García met with José Blanco at least eight times to “resolve business issues.” The dates of these appointments were recorded on electronic devices confiscated from Ábalos’ advisor during his arrest in February 2024.
Regarding the meetings in a hotel in central Madrid with Koldo García, Blanco assured this newspaper that “It could have been, but there were more people, and never on a subject related to the Ministry” and “never eight times.”
“I don’t know if I had a conversation on Whatsapp with Koldo, I would have to come back to that. He’s a PSOE man,” said the former minister and now lobbyist.
When asked if he talked about businesses with Koldo, Pepe Blanco simply replied: “I’m too old for these things.”
