The businessman Víctor de Aldama, epicenter of the corruption plot in the Koldo case, declared this Thursday before the judge of the National Court Ismael Moreno that he paid 250,000 euros in commissions to the then Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos and 100,000 euros to whoever was his advisor, Koldo García, legal sources inform elDiario.es.
These payments agree with the line of investigation followed by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the Civil Guard, unlike others that Aldama has spoken about and of which there is no record in the summary. This is the case of an alleged delivery of 15,000 euros to the current Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, or the unsatisfied request that Koldo García would have made for the Minister of Territorial Policy and former president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres.
Aldama has gone so far as to say that these deliveries of 250,000 euros to Ábalos and another 100,000 to Koldo García would have been much higher if he had agreed to the claim of the former minister and his advisor. The first would have requested two million and García another 500,000. “I am not the Bank of Spain and you are already going too far,” he assured them.
In this regard, the businessman has varied the figures between what he declared to the judge (250,000 to Ábalos and 100,000 to Koldo) and what he later responded to the prosecutor. To the latter, Aldama has told that he paid Ábalos 400,000 euros, without counting what the minister would have received in mask commissions. Regarding Koldo, in this second intervention he has also raised the figures and has attributed total remuneration to him of more than 200,000 euros. At this point, Aldama has said that he does not include in these figures other payments in kind, such as vehicles to Koldo’s family, health treatments or the rent for the Ábalos couple’s apartment.
Businessman Víctor de Aldama has said that on occasions he himself took the money to the Ministry of Transportation and that Koldo García delivered it in his presence to Ábalos so that its final destination could be recorded. The cash, he said, came from construction businesses.
The investigation into this corruption case had already placed Aldama as the “corrupting element” of the plot that did a succulent business through mask contracts in the worst months of the pandemic and had proven that his power of penetration reached the engine room of the Ministry of Transportation that Ábalos directed.
He claims that Sánchez asked to meet him
Now, the businessman has decided to voluntarily sit before the judge, before whom he has focused on exposing his relevance in efforts that implicated the Spanish Government. For almost two hours and without providing documentation to substantiate his accusations, he referred to his alleged influence over other members of the Government and went so far as to say that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, asked to meet him and thanked him for what ” was doing” in Mexico in favor of Spanish companies awarded important public contracts in that country.
After revealing the content of the statement, the PSOE has announced that it will file a complaint against the businessman. For their part, Moncloa sources have reacted by ensuring that Aldama “does not have any credibility” and have recalled that he is in preventive detention. These sources insist that Sánchez has “never had any relationship with this man” and that justice “will put everyone in their place.” Former Minister Ábalos has also denied the accusations made against him and has stated that he will study criminal actions against Aldama given their “seriousness and falsehood.”
An alleged payment to number 3 of the PSOE
The businessman has also reported a payment of 15,000 euros in cash to the Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán. He has linked this supposed payment with a tender to a construction company whose name he did not want to reveal. Cerdán’s intervention would respond to what Aldama has described as a “Basque quota” for the distribution of awards and bribes.
The businessman has also assured that Koldo García asked for 50,000 euros for Ángel Víctor Torres when the current Minister of Territorial Policy was president of the Canary Islands. This alleged commission would have to do with the purchase and sale of masks during a pandemic. Aldama has said that Koldo warned him that there would be “problems” if he did not agree.
In the list of people who would have benefited from his bites, the businessman has included Carlos Moreno, Chief of Staff of the Minister of Finance. It would be a delivery of 25,000 euros in cash in front of the headquarters of the department directed by María Jesús Montero.
Aldama arrived at the National Court from the Soto del Real prison in a van at 9:00 a.m. At 10 the statement began, which lasted for two hours. He has responded mainly to his lawyer and the Anti-Corruption prosecutor, Luis Pastor, although the judge has also intervened on several occasions. Aldama has confirmed that he is also collaborating in the case that keeps him in provisional prison, a hydrocarbon fraud, and that he will do so with the Supreme Court, which is investigating the part of the investigation that affects the accused Ábalos.
The photo with Sánchez
Regarding Sánchez, he assured that the Chief Executive told him that he was “informed” of his efforts and thanked him for what he “was doing”, in relation to the contacts he maintained in Mexico and that had borne fruit in a trip. of the then Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, and the businessman himself. Aldama added that the photo with Sánchez was taken in a booth and that he is neither a member nor a sympathizer of the party.
One of the photos that gloss the summary shows a meeting in Mexico on December 12, 2018, in the city of Oaxaca, with authorities from the country and the then minister José Luis Ábalos, accompanied by the businessman. Aldama has reported that the Spanish ambassador was upset because it was the businessman who organized the entire meeting, including its security.
The photo of Aldama with Sánchez was taken the day before the Government publicized a second official trip by Ábalos to Mexico to “strengthen the presence of Spanish companies in infrastructure and transportation projects in the North American country.” “This meeting, promoted by Aldama, who at that time was honorary consul of Spain in Mexico and advisor to Globalia, would revolve around issues related to transportation between Spain and the North American country and would have the participation of Ábalos, the governor of the region of Oaxaca in Mexico—Pedro Murat—and the Mexican Pedro Miguel Haces Barba [del partido en el Gobierno]”, states the Central Operational Unit of the Civil Guard in one of the reports incorporated into the case.
During his statement, Aldama also referred to the newly elected vice president of the European Commission and Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, with whom, he said, he has met “on several occasions.” These meetings, which are not part of the investigation, dealt with the project of converting towns in emptied Spain into “thematic” ones and creating jobs. “She knew perfectly well who I was,” Aldama said about Ribera, according to the sources consulted.
Also participating in the project for emptied Spain, according to Aldama, was Javier Hidalgo, the CEO of Globalia, owner of Air Europa, a company for which the investigated businessman also worked. Aldama has also linked Begoña Gómez, the wife of the President of the Government, to the project.
A drone for the Civil Guard
The businessman Víctor de Aldama was registered on the list of confidants of the Special Central Unit of the Civil Guard, specifically in the one dedicated to combating jihadist terrorism. Commander Rubén V. belonged to that unit, accused of receiving 2,000 euros per month in bribes. Aldama has justified that the money was to receive secure telephones through which to communicate and that his collaboration with the armed institute led to him being decorated. He has also said that he bought a drone for the UCE-2.
On the other hand, Aldama has assured that he bought 3,000 bottles of Toro wine for the accused commander to give to his new contacts in Venezuela, where he would have been sent when the investigation into the Koldo case was already underway. His new assignment was signed by the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez, at the proposal of the recently dismissed director general of the Civil Guard Leonardo Marcos.
The journey of Delcy Rodríguez
Another of the issues that the statement has focused on is the trip to Spain that the Minister of Economy and Vice President of Venezuela Delcy Rodríguez made to Spain on January 20, 2020. Although she was prohibited from entering the European Union, Rodríguez arrived to land in Madrid and, according to Aldama, he spent up to five hours in one of the terminals at Barajas airport. During that period of time, the Venezuelan president met with Ábalos, who has publicly maintained that she went to the terminal with the intention of preventing Rodríguez from entering Spain due to the sanctions that weighed on her.
Before the judge, Aldama assured that Sánchez was aware of that trip and that he was even scheduled to attend a dinner that was going to be held with other Government ministers in a chalet in the luxurious El Viso area of Madrid. had rented to house the Venezuelan vice president. The commission agent has reported that the trip began to be prepared a month before and that, due to Rodríguez’s concern, he was “promised” that nothing was going to happen. However, he has assured that, surprisingly, two hours before the trip he was announced that Rodríguez would not be able to land in Spain because she would be detained.
At this point, Aldama has confirmed that it was Sánchez who asked Ábalos to go to Barajas to “fix the situation.” The commission agent’s version is that Rodríguez stayed up to five hours in the so-called ‘executive terminal’ of Barajas until they managed to get Qatar Airways tickets to leave Spain. Likewise, the commission agent has denied the existence of the supposed 40 suitcases that left the plane and has described as false the rumors that the aircraft contained “boxes of gold.” “The plane would fall due to the weight,” he stated.
Source: www.eldiario.es
