The trial of the masks case in the Supreme Court has started a new day this Thursday with the testimony of businesswoman Carmen Pano, who has assured having carried out cash deliveries at the PSOE headquarters on Madrid's Ferraz street.
Pano has assured before the court that he went on two occasions to Ferraz to make "two payments of 45,000 euros" in the framework of the efforts to obtain a hydrocarbon license linked to the Ministry of Transport, at that time under the direction of José Luis Ábalos. According to his statement, the alleged fixer of the plot, Víctor de Aldama, had told him that "the minister (Ábalos) wanted a house" as consideration in exchange of the license.
🔴 Trial 'Masks case' | Carmen Pano's driver declares in the Supreme Court that he saw her arrive at Ferraz with a transparent bag in which stacks of banknotes were visible: "It was visible that there was money because the bag was open and there were stacks of banknotes."
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In this regard, the businesswoman has directly linked these operations with Ábalos, although she says that she never met him, pointing out that the purchase of a chalet in La Alcaidesa, province of Cádiz, would have been part of that alleged agreement.
"Same modus operandi: a Zara-type paper bag"
Pano, who ran, together with his daughter, Leonor González, the company Have Got Time, a hydrocarbon marketer, has explained that he worked for the businessman Claudio Rivas, interested in launching an energy operator, and that it was through his circle that he came into contact with Aldama, who offered to facilitate the procedures thanks to his "contacts". According to Pano, Rivas transferred more than 600,000 euros to his accounts. The witness added that Aldama reproached him, "very angry", that 10,000 euros were missing when he delivered the money in Ferraz.
Likewise, he detailed that the cash was mainly composed of 50 euro notes and some 100 euro notes, and that they always followed the same procedure: "It was put into a plastic bag, folded, and introduced into a Zara-type paper bag," he explained.
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Carmen Pano's driver relates that he saw her get off in Ferraz with a bag with wads of bills
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"It was always the same modus operandi. The money was put into a plastic bag, it was folded and put into a Zara-type paper bag."
500,000 destined for the home of the president of Air Europa
For her part, Leonor González Pano has declared Aldama told her that both he and Koldo García went to the home of the president of Air Europa, Juan José Hidalgo, to collect a bag with 500,000 euros in cash.
In her account, Koldo's defense has tried to question her credibility by pointing out alleged contradictions in previous versions. The lawyer Leticia de la Hoz has recalled that in July 2025 the witness placed this episode at Madrid-Barajas airport.
González Pano has rejected that interpretation, clarifying that then he was referring to a meeting without money delivery, while now he describes a different episode, the collection of a bag at the businessman's home.
On the other hand, González Pano has maintained that the "million euros" to which the Civil Guard refers in its reports was not intended to buy political wills, but went directly to Víctor de Aldama.
According to the investigation by the Central Operative Unit (UCO), that amount would have been used by an alleged criminal organization to influence José Luis Ábalos and other public officials, facilitating their access to Administration structures in exchange for considerations. However, the witness has defended that this money would have come from Claudio Rivas destined for Aldama, without specifying if there were more beneficiaries.
Next, Ignacio Granada, an official from the Ministry of Finance, declared that he assured that he received a direct order from Carlos Moreno, chief of staff of the first vice president and minister of finance, María Jesús Montero, to transfer to the Tax Agency the request for deferral of embargo presented by a company linked to Víctor de Aldama.
Granada has emphasized that he acted strictly in compliance with the instruction of his hierarchical superior: "He ordered me to transfer it to the Tax Agency and so I did," he affirmed. Asked about the frequency of this type of requests, the official clarified that, although they are not common, neither are they infrequent.
Pano's driver says he saw in the car a "transparent bag" with "wads of bills"
In the same session, Pano's driver, Álvaro Gallego, declared this Wednesday as a witness, who corroborated the businesswoman's account by stating that he took her to Ferraz at the end of 2020 and that he saw her get out of the car with a bag in which "stacks of banknotes were visible".
Gallego, who has said he is "a friend" of Pano, has detailed that before arriving at the socialist headquarters they made a stop at the offices of Víctor de Aldama, in Las Rozas (Madrid), to then head to Feraz.
The witness described the bag as "transparent, white, inside another larger one" and insisted that "it was visible there was money", although he admitted that he cannot specify the exact amount nor confirm if it was the same package on both journeys. Nor could he identify the final recipient, as he remained in the vehicle.
Likewise, he/she has indicated that the money would have been previously delivered by an emissary of Rivas at Pano's home, although he/she has stressed that he/she was unaware of the specific destination of the cash and that he/she does not know if the money was delivered to Aldama in his/her office or at the socialist headquarters.
According to his testimony, the money came from Claudio Rivas and was intended for "the payments for the Villafuel license", the company at the epicenter of the hydrocarbon plot and in which Víctor de Aldama, Carmen Pano and Rivas himself are listed as investigated in the Audiencia Nacional. When asked about the origin of the money, Gallego explained that he was able to identify it because, he stated, "an emissary of his took it that same morning to Carmen Pano's home".
Two payments of 10,000 euros in Dominican Republic
The session has continued with the statement of Aránzazu Granell, an employee of a company linked to Aldama's circle, who has admitted to having made cash deliveries to Koldo's brother, Joseba García. "My meetings with Joseba were nothing, two minutes", the witness has stated, who has detailed that she delivered up to 20,000 dollars in cash during her stay in Dominican Republic, in two payments of 10,000 dollars each.
Granell has assured that he acted at the indication of businessman Javier Serrano and has pointed out that he does not know if the recipient knew that the envelopes contained money. According to his account, the funds came from the clinics he supervised in the country.
During the investigation phase, Serrano had already pointed out that these deliveries were made by order of Víctor de Aldama, considered a key figure in the alleged network.
The last witness to testify has been the businessman César Moreno, Aldama's partner and member of the WhatsApp group known as 'the four musketeers'. According to reports from the Guardia Civil, this group would have made a payment of 10.000 euros to Koldo García in República Dominicana.
Moreno, who has appeared as a witness, is however investigated in the Audiencia Nacional for an alleged crime of money laundering in this same case, which has led him to not answer most of the questions. In his brief intervention, he limited himself to denying that he knows Koldo or that he has held meetings with him, despite the fact that messages found on his phone point in the opposite direction.