This Tuesday saw the first day of the mask case trial in the Supreme Court, one of the ramifications of the 'Koldo case', focused on the alleged scheme of collection of commissions in public contracts of the Ministry of Transport during the pandemic.
On the bench will sit the former Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos, his former advisor Koldo García and the businessman Víctor de Aldama, accused of bribery, influence peddling, embezzlement, criminal organization, insider trading, falsification and malfeasance.
The Supreme Court will hold the trial over four weeks, from this Tuesday until April 30, with a total of 13 sessions that will take place both in the morning and in the afternoon, in which more than 75 witnesses will appear, in addition to the three defendants, to answer about those alleged irregularities in the awarding of mask contracts.
Ábalos's son denies being "custodian" of his father's money
The day has started with the statement by Víctor Ábalos, eldest son of former minister Ábalos, who has denied having spoken "never in code" with Koldo García or having been "custodian" of his father's money. Likewise, he has acknowledged that he did make transfers and loans to his father after his divorce to help him financially, but has assured that everything was registered and there was no opacity.
About his relationship with Koldo García and Aldama, Víctor Ábalos has declared that he only knew Koldo for his role as advisor to his father, and has denied having any relationship with Aldama.
He has also denied having had business with Koldo, except for a two-month temporary contract with the company of the former advisor's wife, and has explained that his frequent trips to Colombia were strictly for work reasons. Regarding conversations in which coffee was mentioned, he assured that they were simple everyday requests and not coded communication.
He has also testified as a witness Joseba García, Koldo's brother, who has admitted having gone twice to the PSOE headquarters on Madrid's Ferraz street to collect envelopes with money for his brother, although he has said he did not know the exact content and had not opened them. He has also explained that he met with Aldama for vehicle purchase matters, disassociating these meetings from the mask plot.
After him, Ana Araceli Arigita, head of selection at Ineco -a public company dependent on the Ministry of Transport where Jessica Rodríguez, Ábalos' ex-partner, was hired- has declared, who has confirmed that the hiring of Rodríguez did not go through the usual procedure, but has denied that anyone had given her instructions regarding her hiring.
Armengol and Torres deny having had anything to do with the hiring of Aldama's company
The oral hearing of the trial has begun with the reading of the written statements of the President of Congress, Francina Armengol, and of the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, cited as witnesses for their management at the head of the Government of the Balearic Islands and the Government of the Canary Islands, respectively, during the period in which the now prosecuted mask purchases occurred.
Both Armengol and Torres have denied having intervened in the contracting of the company of Víctor de Aldama, Soluciones de Gestión, and have assured that they learned of the purchases of sanitary material only after they had been executed. Torres has explained that he only monitored the purchase when he detected that the Canarian Government had not made the corresponding payment. For her part, Armengol has assured that she learned of the contracts in the Balearic Islands much time later after they had occurred.
After the reading of these statements, the lawyer for Koldo García has requested the suspension of the trial due to an appeal pending before the Constitutional Court. Ábalos's defense joined this request, but the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, the popular prosecution led by the PP and Aldama's lawyer have opposed. The president of the court has clarified that the decision on the suspension corresponds to the Constitutional Court, so the court should not rule.
Ábalos's ex-partner says the former minister knew she was not working
For her part, Ábalos's ex-partner Jéssica Rodríguez, whose statement has been postponed because it was anticipated that it could be prolonged, has declared that the former Minister of Transport "felt in debt" to her after the breakup for "failing to keep promises" and having made her change her lifestyle.
Thus, after the breakup with the former minister in 2018, Rodríguez has confirmed that Ábalos continued making gifts such as an iPhone or the university tuition while she remained in his apartment.
Furthermore, she has stated that Ábalos knew she was not going to work at Ineco. "Ábalos and I spoke every day and when we stopped being a couple we continued communicating and I told him all the things that were happening to me," she said. To the question of whether the former minister knew that she was not performing any work, she responded with a resounding: "yes, of course".
Political reactions
The session in the Supreme Court has also served as a stage for the opposition parties to have taken advantage of the trial day and charged against the Government.
The general secretary of the Popular Party, Miguel Tellado, has stated on his official profile on the social network X that "the corruption of the PSOE today sits in the dock" and has accused the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, of having privately supported those involved while publicly denying links. Likewise, he has criticized Francina Armengol for remaining in her position despite her involvement, and has warned that normalizing this situation "attacks the institutions".
"The chistorras, in family," the 'popular' has ironized after Koldo García's brother admitted that he went to Ferraz to collect money from the socialist headquarters.
For her part, the deputy secretary of Institutional Regeneration of the PP Cuca Gamarra has emphasized through a brief message on her social media profile X that it is not about "mud or hoaxes", but about Justice pursuing irregularities in high-ranking officials of the PSOE, highlighting that Ábalos was Sánchez's right-hand man and a central figure in management during the pandemic.
From Vox, the spokesperson for the party in Congress, Pepa Millán, has warned at a press conference that this April will be remembered as a month in which "the overflowing corruption of an entire system" comes to light.
In this regard, he has alluded both to the trial of the 'Kitchen' case, which started this Monday in the National Court, as well as to the start of the trial in the Supreme Court against Ábalos and Koldo García. However, regarding this latter, Millán has described the case as the "perhaps most repugnant in our history", for having done business with masks while citizens suffered confinement and a health crisis, he clarified.
According to the Vox leader, the accused share a common denominator: having been protected by Pedro Sánchez, and their participation in his political career would have contributed to the rise of the current head of the Executive as general secretary of the PSOE and president of the Government. "This April we are going to see the rotten fruits of a system built by the two major parties to take advantage of power. They call it stability, we call it corruption and fraud."
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office requests 24 years in prison for Ábalos and 19 and a half for Koldo García, in addition to millionaire fines and disqualification for both. The 'popular' accusations, led by the PP, raise the request to 30 years for both. For Aldama, the requested sentence is 7 years, considering his collaboration with Justice.
Ábalos and Koldo García have arrived at the Supreme Court in police van from Soto del Real, where they remain in provisional prison since November, given the risk of flight and the seriousness of the accusations. Aldama, at liberty, is considered by the Civil Guard as the corrupting link of the plot, and his collaboration with Justice allowed him to leave prison.