Two businessmen charged in the Koldo case, Juan Carlos Cueto and Íñigo Rotaeche, distanced themselves this Friday in the National Court from the schemes devised by the commission agent Víctor de Aldama to obtain the contracts for the purchase and sale of medical supplies during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Both testified before Judge Ismael Moreno and, according to legal sources present at the interrogation, insisted on the legality of the signed contracts and that they know nothing about the kickbacks paid by Aldama to José Luis Ábalos, then Minister of Transport, and his advisor Koldo García.
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The Supreme Court already sentenced Ábalos, García, and Aldama to prison last June — although it suspended the imprisonment of the latter — and established the payment of those irregular commissions. However, the National Court still keeps the case open against the rest of the alleged individuals involved in the plot, who were not on the bench in that trial. The investigation is in its final phase, according to sources involved in the inquiry.
This Friday, Rotaeche was the first to testify before the judge. The businessman, who was in charge of the company Soluciones de Gestión (used to obtain the contracts), answered questions for more than an hour. He was followed by Cueto, who financed the operation for the acquisition of the medical supplies that were resold to the Administration. According to legal sources, both have maintained a similar line of defense. They repeated that they have nothing to do with illicit contracts or irregular commissions. They said they have never paid kickbacks. And they emphasized that they knew nothing about Aldama’s maneuvers to buy off Minister Ábalos.
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Faced with these evasions, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office asked about one of the main pieces of evidence in the file that the Supreme Court considered proven: four days before the ministerial order to purchase eight million masks was published, Soluciones de Gestión and Cueto’s business group signed a contract to supply that amount. The accused have stated that this inconsistency is due to the agreement between the companies being incorrectly dated and have announced that they are working on an expert report to prove this mistake.
