The prosecution Anti-corruption suspects that Koldo García, former advisor to former Minister of Transportation José Luis Ábalos, they warned him about what was being investigated by the Public Ministry in the framework of a case regarding alleged irregular commissions for the awarding of contracts for the purchase of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is stated in a car, in which the judge of the National Court Ismael Moreno It includes in detail the story of the complaint by the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Corruption.
The suspicion stems from a conversation between Koldo García and businessman Rogelio Pujalte that was intercepted within the framework of the investigations. In the communication, which took place on February 3, «Rogelio warns Koldo not to use the Telegram instant messaging application on his mobile devices«, as stated in the judicial resolution. Ábalos’s former advisor responds that he has never used it and tells him: “Don’t worry, I know everything.”
According to what appears in the car, Koldo tells him that he knows “what they are”, “how they are” and “when they are” investigating. The businessman answers: “When they tell me about you, the first thing I do is get in touch.”
For researchers, from this conversation “It can be deduced that Rogelio is warning Koldo that he is being investigated.”
Rogelio Pujalte appears in the alleged corruption plot for having received “approximately 100,000 euros from the funds investigated”. According to the information contained in the investigations, the entity Deluxe Fortune SL, “controlled” by the president of Zamora CF, Víctor Aldama – who is listed as being investigated in the case – paid said amount to a company titled by the businessman.
For Anti-Corruption, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that there is “a criminal organization” that dedicated itself to “obtaining the award” of public contracts for the purchase of masks during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Public Ministry, Koldo García would have received payments “to mediate and obtain” said awards. “Operations to hide these charges, as well as to avoid the traceability of the income obtained as a result of the irregular awards, would also have been carried out.”
Furthermore, the Prosecutor’s Office points out that between 2020 and 2022 Koldo became the owner of assets whose value could reach a total figure of 1.5 million euros. “These acquisitions occur just five months after the public awards to Management Solutions took place,” he adds.
In that period “the increase in cash income in general stands out and it is striking that cash provisions decreased, which denotes the possible existence of another financial source of unknown origin,” says Anticorrupción.
