Koldo García, who was an advisor to José Luis Ábalos in the Ministry of Transportation, has testified for the first time in front of a judge ten months after the outbreak of the corruption case that bears his name. During the interrogation, which lasted almost three hours, he denied the accusations of businessman Víctor de Aldama, who in his appearance this Monday reiterated having paid thousands of euros in bribes to both Ábalos and him and who pointed him out as the main link with the Government. He has also rejected that Santos Cerdán, current ‘number three’ of the PSOE, received 15,000 euros in cash as claimed by the alleged organizer of the plot.
The evidence revealed by the investigations carried out so far in the National Court point to Koldo as the “liaison” between the Administration and the companies. That is, between Ábalos and Aldama. The judge indirectly attributes crimes of influence peddling, bribery, money laundering and membership in a criminal organization.
The beginning of this case focused on the investigation of the mask business, which allowed Aldama’s privileged relationship in the then Ministry of Public Works to be revealed. The reports from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard have proven that Aldama paid Koldo on a recurring and periodic basis the amount of 10,000 euros per month, which served to gain the “influence” of Ábalos and for both to act later for the benefit of the businessman’s business.
These payments to Koldo, which the judge of the National Court Ismael Moreno describes as “ordinary”, would have been accompanied by others of an extraordinary nature whose beneficiary would be Ábalos. The most obvious are those related to the purchase of a chalet in Cádiz, as well as the payment through people linked to Aldama of the rent for an apartment enjoyed by the woman with whom the minister had a relationship.
However, in his appearances in court, the alleged organizer of the plot has raised suspicions about Ábalos and Koldo by linking them with the collection of bribes in exchange for large public works contracts. According to the businessman, construction companies paid between 1% and 1.5% commission for each contract awarded.
It was a percentage that, according to his version, depended on the magnitude of the work and that was orchestrated at the request of Koldo, who would have asked him for help to collect those commissions. Before the judge, Aldama assured that he used to act as a “collector” – he estimated the money collected at up to four million euros – and that Koldo was the main recipient of the bribes that he supposedly later distributed with Ábalos.
As evidence, the alleged procurer provided a manuscript that Koldo supposedly sent him with supposed awards already agreed upon. When asked by the magistrate, the businessman assured that the objective of this list was to “prepare the commissions,” according to the sources consulted. Two reports prepared by the Ministry of Transport and ADIF refute these accusations by not having found irregularities in the contracts denounced by the businessman. “No processing has even led to the suspicion of any favored treatment or irregular action,” states the technical document prepared by the railway manager.
Furthermore, in his statement this Monday, the businessman tried to extend suspicions about the collection of commissions to the PSOE by ensuring that both told him “continually” that “a part” of those bribes went to the party, although he did not do so. direct deliveries to training nor does it have evidence that this actually occurred.
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