The National Court has summoned to testify the former Minister of Mobility of the Balearic Government Marc Pons as a witness in the investigation of the corruption scheme in the hydrocarbons sector, known as Villafuel case, which affects several former senior officials of the central government and businessmen linked to the PSOE.
-
60 contracts in the spotlight: irregularities detected in millionaire contracts of Armengol’s Government during the pandemic
-
Iago Negueruela besieged by two complaints of “harassment and machismo”.
According to an order signed by Judge Santiago Pedraz, Pons, who was also chief of staff of former minister Teresa Ribera, must appear on January 28, the same day as Juan Ignacio Díaz Bidart, former chief of staff of Reyes Maroto. Both will testify for their alleged relationship with a network that, according to the Guardia Civil, would have infiltrated several ministries during the mandate of Pedro Sánchez with the aim of obtaining authorizations to operate in the wholesale hydrocarbons market.
New subpoenas as investigated
On the same day, the businessman Claudio Rivas, alleged leader of the organization together with Víctor de Aldama, considered the “procurer” of contracts and with direct contacts with the environment of the former minister José Luis Ábalos, currently in custody for his connection with the Koldo case, is also summoned for investigation. Aldama is due to testify on January 29.
For January 30, the judge has called to testify the businesswomen Carmen Pano -who admitted to having delivered 90,000 euros to the PSOE headquarters in Ferraz Street- and her daughter, Leonor González.
In addition, Manuel García, general director of Energy Policy and Mines, and Manuel Salles, administrator of a company, will appear as witnesses. Álvaro Gallego, allegedly linked to an extraction of 108,500 euros in cash, will also testify.
The plot: an alleged criminal organization
The Guardia Civil’s Central Operational Unit (UCO) maintains that the network was led by Aldama and Rivas, and that it acted as a criminal organization specialized in tax fraud in the fuel market. They used business structures linked to the company Villafuel to defraud VAT and launder capital through front companies.
According to investigators, the scheme would have started in 2020 and infiltrated the ministries of Transport, Industry and Ecological Transition in order to obtain irregular licenses to operate in the hydrocarbons sector, offering in exchange economic considerations.
Connections with the Koldo case and contracts in the Balearic Islands
The summons of Marc Pons occurs in parallel to the investigations of the Koldo case, which directly affect the Balearic Islands for the awarding during the pandemic of a contract of 3.7 million euros in masks to the company Soluciones de Gestión, also investigated in the Audiencia Nacional.
An audit of the current Balearic Government has revealed that more than 90% of the pandemic health contracts have irregularities, many of them processed without previous technical reports, reception minutes or mechanisms to avoid conflicts of interest.
In this context, the figure of Pons – who was also a socialist deputy – is in the focus of the investigations for his time at the Ministry of Ecological Transition during the years in which Villafuel obtained licenses to operate, allegedly fraudulently.
Although for now Pons is only summoned as a witness, his links with Francina Armengol and his role within the PSIB-PSOE have reactivated the criticism of the opposition, which demands political responsibilities for the alleged lack of control in public contracts during the pandemic and the links with the main defendants in the Koldo case.
