The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has requested this Tuesday the Supreme Court to impose 24 years in prison to the former minister José Luis Ábalos for his alleged involvement in the scheme of contracts for masks during the pandemic, a case in which it also asks for 19 and a half years for his former advisor, Koldo García, and 7 years for the businessman Víctor de Aldama . The prosecution thus formalizes the charges for criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling, embezzlement and insider trading in the well-known ‘Koldo case’, which has been under investigation since 2023.
Formal accusation against Ábalos, Koldo and Aldama
The document signed by the chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Alejandro Luzón, details that the former minister would have favored public awards during the healthcare crisis in exchange for economic returns. The Public Prosecutor’s Office demands for him a fine of 3.9 million, in addition to seizures and forfeitures that exceed 430,000 euros. The Public Prosecutor’s Office maintains that Ábalos used his position during the pandemic to facilitate allegedly irregular contracts to companies linked to the scheme, an investigation that has already been taken to the trial phase in the orders issued on November 3 by the Supreme Court instructor Leopoldo Puente.
Million-dollar fines and civil liability
Koldo García, considered by Anticorruption as the “alter ego” of the former minister, faces the same structural accusation and the same economic fine. Both must indemnify “jointly and severally” Ineco (34,477.86 euros) and Tragsatec (9,500.54 euros) for the damages caused in the investigated contracts. The Prosecutor’s Office also claims the forfeiture of at least 430,298.4 euros, which it identifies as illicit benefit derived from the bribery operations.
Aldama’s confession mitigated
The businessman Víctor de Aldama, whom the document places as the “procurer” of the network, faces 7 years in prison by applying the mitigating circumstance of confession. Anticorruption stresses that his statements in 2024 before the National Court were “relevant, truthful and consistent with the evidentiary material”, and that they contributed to detailing not only the masks scheme, but other operations related to public works that had not transcended then.
The Ábalos-Koldo relationship
According to the prosecution, the link between Ábalos and Koldo was gestated when the former secretary of Organization of the PSOE Santos Cerdán recommended that García be hired as a driver of the then socialist leader. From 2017, already as a party worker and later advisor in Transport, Koldo would have acted as a “faithful transmitter” of the minister’s decisions, a position that, according to the prosecutor, allowed him to intervene in public managements and mediations linked to emergency contracts during the pandemic.
Anticorruption maintains that Koldo handled “illegal sources of cash” from Ábalos, acting de facto as a front man, and that both obtained benefits together with Aldama taking advantage of their capacity of influence in different administrations.
A supposedly “very effective” role distribution
The prosecutor appreciates that the three defendants agreed on a distribution of functions aimed at attracting companies interested in contracting with the State during the health crisis. Aldama would locate the businessmen, Koldo would facilitate institutional access and Ábalos would act as an authority capable of guiding awards, always in exchange for economic considerations.
Among the examples described are meetings with Treasury officials, negotiations in the sale of masks to the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands and the issuance of safe-conducts during the state of alarm for Venezuelan businessmen. The accusation cites as one of the illicit commissions the rental contract with option to buy an apartment in Paseo de la Castellana signed by Aldama in favor of Ábalos.
Payments and duration of the alleged network
The brief indicates that Aldama maintained monthly payments to Koldo of 10,000 euros between October 2019 and July 2022, a period in which the plot would have extended its activity to “different administrative spheres”. The Prosecutor’s Office concludes that the organization had a “vocation of permanence” and that it was only weakened after the departure of Ábalos and Koldo from the Ministry of Transport.
