Former Minister of Transport, Jose Luis Abalos, speaks with OKDIARIO in a key week for the Koldo casethe network of bites that has spread its tentacles through half of the government and brought down the all-powerful secretary of organization of the PSOE. Ábalos has neither thirst for revenge nor cover to throw. Nor is there any reproach to be made to Pedro Sánchez or his former teammates. “I am a depreciated politician, I have no responsibilities and therefore I am replaceable,” he admits. He has no regrets, he would hire Management Solutions again – the front company of the plot – and reveals a warning that Illa gave him: “She told me to be careful because there were ‘many scammers’ offering masks.” And it was true.
Ábalos says he has almost nothing to reproach himself for. “We managed the whole transport world. Transport was essential and could not fail because it provided everything: medicines, food… And it worked. The anxiety we had about getting material that did not exist was immense. My fear was that they would cheat us because we were warned. I even asked Minister Illa of Health: ‘Hey, do you know any companies and so on?’ He told me: ‘Listen, we are the same, we are all looking, but be careful, José Luis. There are many scammers.’ And it was true.
The former minister even boasts that his ministry was the only one that did not pay for the masks in advance: “That way, you made sure that you were not scammed and that there was no embezzlement.” Nor does he see any irregularity in signing an order to double the purchase from 4 to 8 million masks in just 38 minutes in March 2000, as revealed by the audit commissioned by Óscar Puente: “I don’t have that proof, in fact, I don’t even remember it, I remember that he signed two. But if I had to sign three or four, I would have done so because at that moment of pressure there was no certainty, no data that would tell us how long the pandemic was going to last,” he says.
Ábalos is convinced that the audit commissioned by Puente was carried out to make him bear all the responsibility for the purchase of masks. “I cannot think that this is limited to a simple clumsiness. That is to say, there is a fundamental thing, which is that when a criminal investigation is underway, the Administration cannot carry out a parallel investigation. In addition, in your case, you would need authorization from the judge. Because according to the Government’s own regulations, in this case the Presidency, even in what is the work of the inspectors on duty, it is clearly stated that this can only contaminate or disrupt an investigation and that is what a parallel investigation does. So what is the purpose? Another thing is that you collaborate with justice, but another thing is that you advance in parallel with justice and in this case even more, by modifying the plans of the Court of Auditors, which is the supreme body for controlling the accounts of this country, according to our constitutional order. “I don’t understand very well.”
