The wait generated by Víctor de Aldama’s voluntary declaration before the judge in the Koldo case led this Thursday to a huge cloud of dust in which important names from the government and the PSOE appeared, accused by the man businessman for collecting envelopes full of money in a sordid manner. scenes of corruption. Some of these statements, those concerning José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García, amplify the evidence contained in the summary, but others, such as the payment in bars of 15,000 euros to the “number three” of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, I do not I have no support at the moment. The future of the Koldo affair depends once again on the large number of electronic devices, numerous cell phones, seized by the Civil Guard and which have not yet been able to be decrypted.
“My government is a clean government, born to fight corruption,” proclaimed Pedro Sánchez a few hours after the end of Aldama’s statement, who was released just nine hours after his confession to the National Court. The president of the government improvised an appearance at the doors of Congress to celebrate the approval of the fiscal pact, a key vote for his government. Questioned by the media, he rejected Aldama’s accusations, calling him a “character.”
As soon as he left prison, the businessman accused of corruption, before getting into a private vehicle, warned the president: “Don’t worry, you will have proof.”
A few hours earlier, to questions from his lawyer at the National Court, Aldama had devoted the first part of his appearance to referring to the President of the Government and the context of the photo of the two of them that he published. The world last October, taken during a 2019 election and which the opposition has been waving for weeks as proof of Sánchez’s involvement in the plot.
According to Aldama, it was the president who asked to see him and Koldo García and Ábalos “brought him” to this event. In a restricted location, they took a photo and received thanks from Sánchez for his efforts in Mexico, where a relevant infrastructure contract was being drawn up – the so-called Mayan Train – to which several Spanish companies were interested. Finally, companies like Acciona, FCC, UG21 and Azvi participated in part of its construction. “Thank you for what you do, you kept me informed,” assured the businessman of what Sánchez told him. “What an invention!”, reacted the president this Thursday at the doors of Congress.
Aldama’s statement came at his own request, while he was serving a five-week prison sentence for a hydrocarbon fraud of more than 180 million euros. The accused spent a little over two hours this Thursday deploying his accusations. In a chain of events that reveal prior planning, his lawyer then asked Judge Santiago Pedraz, who was keeping him in prison, to order his release.
In the afternoon, in a decision agreed by the prosecutor in charge of the case, Luis Pastor, and his head of the fight against corruption, Alejandro Luzón, the public prosecutor transferred the judge who did not oppose the release of Aldama. This statement from the Public Prosecutor’s Office forced the judge to dictate the freedom of the businessman, since the document was secret and could not be communicated to the rest of the parties so that they could rule on his departure.
Before Judge Ismael Moreno, in charge of the Koldo case, Víctor de Aldama declared that he would collaborate in the hydrocarbons case as well as that of the Supreme Court, which is investigating exclusively the accused José Luis Ábalos, former number two of the PSOE. and Minister of Promotion in the first Sánchez Government. Sources from the anti-corruption prosecution defend that it was not necessary to wait for the person indicted to collaborate in clarifying the cause that kept him in prison, an assertion that is called into question by different legal sources consulted by elDiario.es.
Anti-corruption defends its decision to endorse freedom by alleging that Aldama expressed his willingness to testify in this case and that he also referred in his statement today on the Koldo case to hydrocarbon fraud . Before the judge in charge of the investigation into the collection of commissions for the sale of masks to the government, he only mentioned the purchase of a chalet by another of the people investigated in the hydrocarbons affair for the pleasure of Ábalos , which the UCO investigation had already detailed in its last report.
In a press release, Anticorruption appreciated the commissioner’s “extensive” statement and justified support for his release from prison by the “recognition” of the crimes with which he is accused and by the fact that he had even admitted to having committed other crimes. And he said “other aspects of his statement” were not evaluated in making this decision.
UCO reports, past and future
Two reports from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard support the Koldo case. The first of them, which appeared last March, made it possible to learn about the secret investigation and on the orders of the National Court that the Civil Guard had carried out, with telephone tapping and monitored meetings.
Last month, a second in-depth report revealed the secrets kept by some of those interviewed’s phone numbers. In this document, the gifts of the corruption plot to the former Minister of Transport and the mentions of the “1”, in reference to Sánchez, surfaced, without any of them representing an incriminating element against the president of government, beyond being the person. the most responsible of the Executive. Agents are still working on additional reports from analyzing months and months of phone conversations, messages and emails.
In the absence of recording or evidence proving the alleged payment to Santos Cerdán, only the testimony of the alleged third participant in this meeting, Koldo García, or the trace of the payment in one of the seized devices could strengthen the case. accusation of Aldama in the National Court. “What he says is absolutely false, he is only trying to save himself,” Cerdán responded to Congress while his party announced legal proceedings against Aldama.
The respondent also assured that he had made cash payments to Koldo García, which agrees with the line of investigation followed by the Civil Guard, which had already proven the bribes of 10,000 euros in cash per month that the advisor at the time received conspiracy information. Aldama assured that these payments would have reached up to 200,000 euros, without including other benefits such as vehicles for his family or health care.
Regarding former Minister Ábalos, the Civil Guard had so far detected compensation in kind in charge of the land – the enjoyment of a chalet in exchange for his intercession in contracts or payment of rent for his partner’s house – but not the perception of bites. Aldama assured this Thursday that he had received 250,000 euros in commissions only for mask contracts linked to the ministry he chaired. A sum to which would be added an additional 400,000 euros as payment for the various “favors” that he would have rendered for the benefit of his companies.
Aldama’s statement reinforces the indications collected in this latest UCO report, which defines the businessman as the “corrupting element” of the plot nestled within the Ministry of Transport, but which also explains his ability to initiate or consolidate other commercial avenues in the administration. or their important contacts in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. In the latter country, we note his relationship with the vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, whose controversial trip to Spain in January 2020 played an important role. The president was banned from entering the European Union but, despite this, she landed and stayed for a few hours in the VIP lounge of the executive terminal of Barajas airport.
Before the judge, Aldama assured that Sánchez was aware of this trip and that he even had to attend a dinner that would take place with other ministers in a chalet in the luxurious El Viso district of Madrid that he himself had rented. . in charge of the rental to accommodate it. Finally, Delcy Rodríguez only spent five hours in Spain because, surprisingly, two hours before the trip she was told she would be arrested if she entered the country. The Supreme Court even opened an investigation into these events, but dismissed it when it realized that non-compliance with European Union foreign policy decisions was subject to political control and not criminal liability. .
