Aldama ratifies his accusations against Ábalos and Koldo and provides screenshots to try to prove rigging in works

Víctor de Aldama, the businessman who benefited from million-dollar mask contracts in the worst of the pandemic, appeared this Monday as an investigator in the Supreme Court, where he arrived escorted by Daniel Esteve, leader of Desokupa. The alleged achiever of the plot that allegedly nested in the Ministry of Transportation during the time of the socialist José Luis Ábalos has ratified his accusations against both the former minister and against whoever was his right-hand man in that department, Koldo García, sources inform elDiario.es. present in the declaration. He has assured that both received gifts: cash and other considerations.

For around three hours, the businessman has tried to dismantle Ábalos’ thesis, who last Thursday denied the bites he attributes to him and focused on whoever was his right hand man. According to the sources consulted, the supposed achiever has had a special impact on the role of the advisor.

The businessman has reported that he had a role as a “collector” and that he collected up to four million euros for awards with which he later paid bribes to the former minister and his right-hand man. At that point in the interrogation, the judge asked him if he had evidence of this supposedly corrupt system but, for the moment, he has not provided it. Yes, it has provided screenshots in which alleged agreements for the awarding of public works would appear.

Aldama, whom the Civil Guard identifies as the “corrupting nexus” of the plot, was summoned this Monday for the first time in the Supreme Court after his statement at the National Court on November 21. In that appearance he spoke of money deliveries to Ábalos, Koldo and the current ‘number three’ of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, and tried to involve half a dozen ministers and Sánchez without, until that moment, any more evidence than his word.

Days later, he submitted a letter to the Supreme Court in which he claimed to have evidence of that confession and raised suspicions about the former minister by ensuring that he also received bribes for rigging in road contracts tendered by the department he directed between 2018 and 2021.

Two reports prepared by the Ministry of Transport and ADIF refute these accusations by not having found irregularities in the contracts denounced by Aldama. “No processing has even led to the suspicion of any favored treatment or irregular action,” states the technical document prepared by the railway manager.

Ábalos denied everything

Aldama’s statement also came after, last Thursday, Ábalos denied the bites attributed to him by the businessman, focused on his right-hand man, Koldo García, and stuck to his defense.

For three hours, the now deputy of the Mixed Group limited himself to denying his involvement in the plot that supposedly profited from rigged contracts and denying that he had benefited from commissions or perks neither for the mask contracts nor for the highway contracts. He did so with a similar argument: it was not his responsibility to go into detail about either the medical equipment contracts or the highway contracts that the commission agent has placed under suspicion.

The investigations still have a long way to go, in which the million-dollar mask contracts originating from the investigation will be investigated, but it will also be examined whether the plot extended its influence to other public awards. Koldo García, who decided to remain silent the first time he sat before a judge in this case, is scheduled to appear in the Supreme Court this Tuesday. It remains to be seen if he changes his strategy now.