The Government injected 1.1 billion of euros between aid, guarantees and credits in companies Air Europa, Avoris and its parent company Globalia between the years 2020 and 2021. They are all companies of the Hidalgo family, which have appeared this Thursday related to the meetings held by one of its members, Javier Hidalgo, and the wife of the President of the Government, Begoña Gomez. Between aid, guarantees and credits amounting to 1,100 million euros. This is what The Objective newspaper has published in the last few hours.
Air Europa has also recognized that the key businessman of the Koldo plot, Víctor de Aldama, was an advisor to the company between 2019 and 2020. Aldama was the alleged commission agent of the Koldo Case, and accompanied Javier Hidalgo in high-level meetings, including in Oaxaca to establish an air route between the Mexican zone and Spain, and also in meetings with Begoña Gómez. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office considers it proven that Globalia transferred money to MTM 180 Capital SLthe Luxembourg-based company used by Aldama and Koldo García.
The aid came from the Ministries of Finance, Economy and Transport, so in addition to José Luis Ábalos, the new information points to María Jesús Montero and Nadia Calviño. The Transport subsidies, all to Air Europa, are linked to the mobility of residents on the islands, Ceuta and Melilla and large families, according to the same information.
For your part Ábalos has confirmed that during his time in the Ministry he regularly dealt with businessman Carlos De Aldama. because this He worked for the airline Air Europawhich was rescued with 475 million public funds during the pandemic, before receiving other credits and aid already mentioned.
In an interview in Cuatro he also Former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE has indicated that while he was minister he spoke constantly with De Aldama for the importance of the airline for his department and for the country.
So, has stressed that Air Europa is a “flagship” company Spanish-owned and therefore maintained a “very direct and very important” relationship with the Ministry. “And this person was working there,” he noted.
Along the same lines, he points out that They regularly talked about the problems that the company had in Terminal 2 from Madrid Barajas airport and about the desire to move to Terminal 4, where Iberia mainly operates. “I deal a lot with this company,” he stressed.
Regarding the rescue of the airline, he also highlights that this was “the first file that was resolved” and that at that time some criticized it for being “excessively statist” because there was a nationalization penalty in case of non-compliance. “Some thought that this was too burdensome for the company,” he defended.
Ábalos has also mentioned that he discussed with him, before the pandemic, the purchase agreement for Air Europa by Iberia, which has not yet been carried out. Thus, he has highlighted that they were an issue very relevant for Spain and also for the European Commission, that I had to address that merger.
In this way, he has tried to justify the relevance of maintaining a fluid relationship with a person who worked for this company. «We are talking about very important issues in aeronautical transport and strategic nature for the country, “How can we not be shipping?” he pointed out.
He also points out that the company asked them to intercede with the European Commission and therefore they had to mediate to avoid the objections that the community government raised about the operation.
