First trial against Ábalos, Koldo and Aldama for the mask scheme, live | Pardo de Vera denies pressure regarding the hiring of Ábalos’s ex-partner at Adif and states that he only forwarded her resume

Session suspended until Tuesday

The trial ends this Wednesday with the testimony of Belén Villar, auditor of the mask contracts at the Ministry of Transport. The court has suspended the trial until next Tuesday at 10:00.  

trial of the ‘koldo case’

An ‘after’ on the third floor

The famous lawyer Choclán, defender of Aldama, reminds Isabel Pardo de Vera, former president of Adif, that she said the place she saw her defendant most in the ministry was on the third floor. “And what is on the third floor?” asks the spicy Choclán, who wants to emphasize the familiarity between Ábalos and Aldama (the minister’s office is on the third floor). And Pardo de Vera begins: “Well, you get there, and you find yourself in a huge hall. To the left, there is a door that you have to ring. Then the porters appear, that door opens, and sometimes the three of them were there.”

You can read the full column here.

Koldo and Ábalos’ defenses attack the audit that Transport made on the mask contracts

Koldo García’s lawyer insisted to Belén Villar, the hierarchical head of the Transport officials who conducted an audit on the mask contracts, on the flaws of that report. The defense’s thesis is that it omitted a needs forecast document, where it was established that four million masks were for 15 days and eight million were for 30. This would justify the change from one figure to another in the final purchase order.

On this interrogation occasion, Koldo’s lawyer again clashed with the court president for drawing conclusions within her questions. The lawyer stated that, because of the audit in question, requested by Óscar Puente, her client is now accused in the Supreme Court.

For his part, the defense of former minister José Luis Ábalos focused on the decision-making process to prepare this report. And he hinted at the lack of independence of the person who prepared the audit. Here the court president intervened to tell the lawyer that the Constitution guarantees the independence of officials. Asked about the coincidence of the report’s commission with the opening of a judicial investigation, the official denied any causality between these two facts.

The last witness of the session is the auditor of the mask contracts at Transport

The last witness this Wednesday is Belén Villar. Proposed by Koldo García’s defense, Villar was responsible for the audit report that Transport made on the mask contracts now being tried in the Supreme Court and which Koldo’s defense considers “manipulated and biased.”

A former senior official of State Ports defends that he thought Aldama was part of the ministry

Álvaro Sánchez Manzanares, former secretary general of State Ports, stated that he considered Víctor Aldama part of the Ministry of Transport. Therefore, he sent the middleman an offer from a rival company to Soluciones de Gestión. “If they were organizing this operation, they were the ones who had to see if it was worth changing companies,” he concluded.

The purchase of masks for Transport doubled in about half an hour

Prosecutor Luzón insisted on the chronology of the purchase from Soluciones de Gestión and how State Ports went from wanting to buy four million masks to buying eight: Sánchez Manzanares received an initial order at 20:00 for four million from the Transport undersecretary. At 20:09 he informed Víctor Aldama and added: “You tell me.” Less than half an hour later, he received a new order, this time for eight million. “What explanation do you give?” the prosecutor asked the former secretary general of State Ports: “What I understand is that what they had prepared was eight million,” replied the former senior official. 

The former senior official of Ports states that he was never tasked with “finding a supplier” of masks because Transport had already “secured one”

Álvaro Sánchez Manzanares, former secretary general of State Ports, stated that in the early days of the state of alarm he dealt with “everyone,” because the situation was “chaotic”: from Koldo to the Transport undersecretary, Jesús Manuel Gómez. “We were not told to contract eight million and find a supplier, they told us they had secured one,” the origin, he maintained, is that Transport had already secured a supplier. In this case, Soluciones de Gestión, the company linked to middleman Víctor Aldama.

Prosecutor Luzón asked him about an email in which another official told him: “I just hope we don’t end up in the Manzanares with a concrete slab tied to our feet.” He replied: “We are going to manage the Cali Cartel.” The former secretary general stated these were jokes due to the tense context.

The session resumes with the statement of Álvaro Sánchez Manzanares, former secretary general of State Ports

The statement of Álvaro Sánchez Manzanares begins, who held the position of secretary general of State Ports during the period when the investigated events occurred. The Civil Guard report highlights that he received instructions from Koldo García and had direct contact with Víctor de Aldama, one of the businessmen allegedly directing Soluciones de Gestión from the shadows.

The court gives a 10-minute recess

The court gave a 10-minute recess after Javier Sánchez Fuentefría, who was director of Organization at the Ministry of Transport, finished his statement.

The former senior official who conveyed the Soluciones de Gestión offer to State Ports states he did not know other proposals

Javier Sánchez Fuentefría, who conveyed the mask offer from Soluciones de Gestión to State Ports, stated that he did not know other proposals but conveyed it affirming it “was the best” because the Transport undersecretary told him so. 

Sánchez Fuentefría initially had confusion about the quantity to be purchased, four or eight million. The undersecretary replied eight. The large and abrupt change in quantities is one of the key issues of the trial. The former director of Organization at the Ministry of Transport stated that the difference between one amount and another was based on his preparation of material needs: four million masks for 15 days and eight for 30.

Turn for Javier Sánchez Fuentefría, former director of Organization of Transport

Javier Sánchez Fuentefría, who was director of Organization at the Ministry of Transport during the period when the investigated events occurred, now testifies. He currently holds the position of director general of Budgets at the Ministry of Finance. According to the Civil Guard, Sánchez Fuentefría was the one who allegedly conveyed to two executives of State Ports and Adif the offers for the supply of masks from Soluciones de Gestión, the epicenter of the alleged corruption scheme. 

A civil guard pointed out by the UCO states that Aldama came and went without control at the Ministry of Transport

The civil guard pointed out by the UCO, José Luis Rodríguez, stated that Aldama was the only case he knew of who, without belonging to the Ministry, had access to the authorities’ parking. He went up and entered via the minister’s elevator “without asking anyone’s permission,” he emphasized. “He was often accompanied by people, but since he had authorization to pass, we did not pay attention to who was with him,” justified the civil guard, who was performing security duties at the ministerial complex. Former Adif president Isabel Pardo de Vera stated moments earlier that she was surprised that Aldama was so often in the minister’s office, even when Ábalos was not there.

The civil guard pointed out by the UCO: “For me, Mr. Koldo was a respectable person”

“For me, Mr. Koldo was a respectable person,” stated José Luis Rodríguez, the civil guard pointed out by the UCO as a key person in the scheme. Rodríguez denied any pressure or gift from Koldo García. “For me, Mr. Koldo, from what I could see, seemed an absolutely stressed person, very dedicated to his work and very kind,” he concluded. The civil guard is one of the few witnesses who testifies without showing his face.

The civil guard pointed out by the UCO denies that he put Aldama in contact with the Ministry of Transport

José Luis Rodríguez, the civil guard pointed out as a key piece of the scheme, categorically denied that he put Aldama in contact with anyone from the Ministry of Transport for managing the contracts. “I refuse, absolutely untrue,” he stated. The UCO said he proclaimed himself as the “link” between Soluciones de Gestión and the Ministry of the Interior: “Absolutely untrue,” the civil guard repeated: “I have not been part of any negotiation.” 

Turn for civil guard José Luis Rodríguez, pointed out by the UCO as a key piece of the scheme

José Luis Rodríguez now testifies, a civil guard whom the UCO considers a “key piece in managing the investigated contracts.” Rodríguez was assigned to security at the Ministry of Transport when Ábalos was minister. The prosecution points to him for having “influence over personnel linked to the Ministry of Transport and, in particular, over the entities that awarded the investigated contracts.”

The next to testify is Íñigo Rotaeche Lachiondo, owner of Soluciones de Gestión when the investigated events occurred

The trial continues with the statement of businessman Íñigo Rotaeche Lachiondo, who was listed as owner of Soluciones de Gestión S. L. at the time of awarding the mask supply contracts during the pandemic. This company is considered the epicenter of the network of investigated companies, whose managers allegedly paid commissions to Koldo García to secure million-euro contracts with the Administration. Rotaeche is charged before the National Court for these facts and has stated from the beginning that he will not want to testify.

In detail | Pardo de Vera points to Koldo García

Former Adif president Isabel Pardo de Vera has cleared up the mystery about her testimony as a witness in the mask trial and, despite being charged in the National Court, chose to speak. She did so to put former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos in the background and focus criticism on his right-hand man, Koldo García. 

Pardo de Vera said the purchase order and quantity were given to her by the ministerial order signed by Ábalos and that Adif conducted its own investigations to find the supplier. However, she acknowledged that García sent her a message with the contact of the secretary general of State Ports, because a week earlier he had already made a similar purchase, and of the administrator of Soluciones de Gestión, the company represented by the alleged fixer, Víctor de Aldama. According to her, she passed it to her team “as just another offer,” “in case it was useful.” 

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She also heard about Jésica Rodríguez, Ábalos’ ex-partner, through García. He told her that “José would cut his balls off” if they didn’t place the girl. Pardo de Vera maintained that she merely forwarded her CV to the president of Ineco but, without pressure, in case she fit for something, and from there she distanced herself. She did this out of “institutional respect” for the minister. When she found out they were a couple, she called him and warned that “it couldn’t be.” Apparently, Ábalos understood: “Whatever you do will be fine.” 

Regarding the minister, Pardo de Vera expressed her utmost “respect,” detailing that they had a “relationship of trust,” so much so that she told him it was inappropriate for Aldama to be so often at the Ministry. She never saw him again. She was not so lenient with García. In her opinion, he was not up to the task. His language, manners, and modus operandi were not appropriate or at least not what she, an “institutional person,” was used to: “He did not meet institutional standards.

Former president of State Ports denies any pressure to contract with Aldama’s company: “No one influenced me”

Former president of State Ports Francisco Toledo denied any pressure to contract with Soluciones de Gestión for mask purchases during the pandemic: “No one influenced me,” he emphasized, and stated, in response to Koldo García’s defense questions, that he did not meet the former Transport advisor until some time later. Toledo defended that the price finally obtained was “free,” ironically noting that other administrations bought them much more expensively. 

Former president of State Ports distances himself from the decision to buy eight million masks from Aldama’s company

Former president of State Ports Francisco Toledo stated in his interrogation that the first knowledge he had of the mask offer from Soluciones de Gestión, Aldama’s company, was when he went to sign the purchase: “It is not the president who makes the arrangements to contract.” Toledo denied knowing about the change in quantities, which went from four million masks to eight. “In the end, they were delivered under very harsh conditions,” emphasized the former senior executive. There was only one problem with a batch, as several witnesses have said, and Soluciones de Gestión replaced it, he concluded.  

Francisco Toledo, former president of State Ports, begins his turn

The next witness is Francisco Toledo, former president of State Ports, an entity dependent on the Ministry of Transport. The company he presided over was the first to buy masks from Soluciones de Gestión, the company related to Víctor de Aldama and recommended by Koldo García. It was eight million (the initial order was half, but Koldo informed the person responsible for the purchase at Transport that it was “eight or nothing”) and was bought for more than 20 million euros. In the investigation, Toledo stated that he did not have the authority to decide contracts and that the award was decided by the ministry led by Ábalos. 

Pardo de Vera denies that Koldo had influence over the mask purchase

Koldo’s lawyer asked Isabel Pardo de Vera about the audit Adif made on the contracts, which was criticized by another former senior official, Michaux Miranda. Pardo de Vera supported these criticisms. Following the defense line presented yesterday, the lawyer asked about Koldo’s prerogatives to intervene in the contracting process: “Mr. Koldo has no capacity over a contracting body, much less an advisor to a minister,” concluded the former Adif president.

Pardo de Vera claims she dealt directly with Koldo because he was “a peculiar person”

“Koldo’s relations with Adif, since he was a peculiar person, I tried to limit them to myself,” defended Isabel Pardo de Vera. The former Adif president stated in her interrogation that, for institutional reasons, she preferred to keep the former Transport advisor away from her team, since he had an unusual role as an advisor. Koldo García’s role in the mask purchase, she said, was to coordinate possible flights. 

Pardo de Vera insists that she found Aldama at Transport more frequently than normal

Turn for defense questions. Víctor Aldama’s lawyer asked former Adif president since when she knew the middleman, and she answered two or three months after taking office, in September 2018. The first time she saw him, she said, was at the Ministry of Transport, and it was there she found him frequently: “For someone external to the Ministry, it gave me the impression that he was there more often than someone who has an appointment with the minister.” Once, she recounted, she told Ábalos she was concerned about finding the middleman there when the minister was not. The former minister replied that “it was not normal and that he took note.” 

First clash between prosecution and defense

Only an hour of trial has passed, and the first clash between the parties has already occurred. The popular accusation lawyer asked Pardo de Vera about an alleged call she made after testifying with the UCO, in which she warned Ábalos that he should find a lawyer. At that moment, the former minister’s lawyer interrupted the interrogation to ask where she got that information: “By divine inspiration?” His counterpart defended that it is relevant to establish that there is a criminal association, but the court president ruled the question inadmissible. Throughout the interrogation, Isabel Pardo de Vera is downplaying the former minister’s role and focusing on Koldo’s movements.

Pardo de Vera assures she only knew Aldama was related to Soluciones de Gestión when the judicial case started

Former Adif president Isabel Pardo de Vera stated that she never knew Víctor Aldama was related to Soluciones de Gestión, the company from which Adif bought more than five million masks during the pandemic. She said she found out when the judicial case started. Before, she acknowledged knowing Aldama and that she had even found him in the minister Ábalos’ office with Koldo.

The popular accusations’ lawyer asked her about Koldo’s interest in the contract at that time and the emails he sent to the president, where he asked them to allocate money for the mask payment. According to other witnesses, in the early days of the state of alarm, it was the former Transport advisor who put the Soluciones de Gestión offer on the table, a company related to middleman Aldama. The former Adif president only stated that Adif did not allocate any money and that the operation was “impeccable.”

The former Adif president denied receiving objections from the company’s financial director regarding contracting Soluciones de Gestión. Also, she was asked about an email comparing two offers: on April 2, 2020, Pardo de Vera sent a message to Koldo García saying: “I don’t understand that if they have the same problems, why was more paid for the larger batch.” The larger batch was from Soluciones de Gestión. Pardo de Vera defended that in that message she reproached the Ministry for the masks not arriving, as it was responsible for the freight.

Pardo de Vera denies pressure for hiring Ábalos’ ex-partner and states she only forwarded her curriculum

Prosecutor Luzón’s interrogation enters the hiring of Jésica Rodríguez, Ábalos’ ex-partner, in two public companies, Ineco and Tragsatec, which had projects with Adif. Isabel Pardo de Vera acknowledges receiving a message from Koldo with Rodríguez’s curriculum and called Ineco’s president to talk about Rodríguez. In the message, Koldo told her that if they didn’t move her curriculum, “José would cut his balls off.”

Pardo de Vera distanced herself from her hiring and emphasized that she simply forwarded her curriculum, “without further importance.” “I did not know who the lady was nor what she was coming for,” she concluded. “Once I passed the curriculum to Ineco’s president, I did not know if she was hired for Adif or any other possible client,” she added.

Later, she acknowledged being informed that Ábalos’ ex-partner’s contract was ending and, at that moment, Ignacio Záldivar, former senior official of Adif, “must have suggested” continuing the contract. It was then when she found out Rodríguez had a relationship with Ábalos. Then, she called the minister and told him it was not possible to extend her contract, and Ábalos replied that whatever she decided “was well done.” She never heard from Ábalos’ ex-partner again, she defended.

Pardo de Vera states that sometimes she went to Ábalos’ office and found only Koldo and Aldama

“I arrived to meet with the minister, but the minister was not there,” recounted former Adif president Isabel Pardo de Vera: “Sometimes I found Mr. Koldo and Mr. Aldama, which surprised me, for professional code reasons.” Asked about her relationship with the two, she said she understood Koldo was always “the minister’s interlocutor” and that Aldama was introduced to her as the brother of the previous minister’s bodyguard.

Pardo de Vera distances herself from contracting Soluciones de Gestión but defends the decision: “There was no instruction”

The former Adif president defended the decision to buy from Soluciones de Gestión: “My team made a right decision.” Pardo de Vera stated that “the next day” after deciding to buy from this company, the first delivery of material ordered first by State Ports arrived. However, she distanced herself from the decision to contract with the company linked to middleman Aldama: “I do not make these kinds of decisions.” “Once everything is legally compliant, it passes through me,” she defended: “I can ratify it to take it to the board of directors.”

The case prosecutor then asked her about a note sent by Michaux Miranda, a former senior official of Adif who was in charge of the purchase, stating that the “instruction was received” to contract with Soluciones de Gestión: “I did not receive any instruction,” Pardo de Vera stated, emphasizing that she does not remember this message. 

Pardo de Vera answers about the five million masks bought by Adif

Former Adif president Isabel Pardo de Vera is answering questions from the anti-corruption prosecutor about Adif’s purchase of five million masks in March 2020, during the first wave of the covid pandemic. She said she received an order from the Ministry of Transport for the purchase of those masks, with the quantity already specified in the order.

The first to testify is Isabel Pardo de Vera, former president of Adif

Wednesday’s session begins with one of the most anticipated testimonies in this trial, that of Isabel Pardo de Vera, former president of Adif. Pardo de Vera is charged in the National Court for her participation in the scheme, both in public company appointments and alleged irregularities in awarding works, although her case is being followed before the National Court.

‘KOLDO CASE’

Ask, something remains

Important day for Koldo García Izaguirre, and it shows in the atmosphere. His lawyer, Leticia de la Hoz, stirs several times. Koldo even redirects his interrogation at some point. He leans toward the lawyer to whisper, gets agitated, makes gestures, then sinks into vague absences with a posture he maintained for an hour in the first session: bent over himself, with his left hand covering half his face, so the camera only records the crown. Maybe it’s a posture recommended after a hair transplant. Koldo has had hair implanted and the hair is growing quite a bit, perhaps there is a new technique that requires being upside down while people around ask questions related to you. This activates some responsible cells, and the worse things go outside, the more violently the transplanted follicles grow.

You can read the full column here.

‘Koldo Case’

Alleged public works rigging sneaks into the mask trial: “I shouldn’t have come”

And on the fifth day of the trial, masks were discussed. It was almost by accident because, of the seven witnesses who appeared at the Supreme Court, only two were related to the suspicious contracts awarded from the Ministry of Transport to Soluciones de Gestión ―the company linked to Víctor de Aldama― for 36 million euros to buy 13 million masks. The other five, to their own surprise, the court’s, and all parties’, weathered the storm as best they could, but reality is stubborn and prevailed. “He knows nothing,” complained Koldo García’s lawyer. “Maybe he shouldn’t have come,” replied magistrate Andrés Martínez Arrieta.

You can read the full information here.

Live narration of the sixth day of the trial against Ábalos, García, and Aldama begins

Good afternoon. Here begins the live narration of the sixth day of the trial against former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos, his former advisor Koldo García, and businessman Víctor de Aldama. The key witness of the day will be former Adif president Isabel Pardo de Vera. 

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