The plenary session of Congress has approved by majority, with the abstention of the PP and the vote against Vox, the creation of a new commission of investigation into alleged cases of corruption in the purchase of masks and anti-covid material during the pandemic, which will begin with the Koldo case for the alleged collection of commissions of which Koldo García Izaguirre, who was an advisor to the former Minister of Transportation and former organizational secretary of the PSOE José Luis Ábalos, was a part.
The new Congressional investigation commission, requested by the PSOE, has received 175 favorable votes, those of Sánchez’s parliamentary partners, plus CC, UPN and the former socialist deputy José Luis Ábalos, while 136 PP deputies have abstained and have Vox’s 33 deputies voted against.
This is the third investigative commission, after those created in the Senate and the Balearic Parliament, and on this occasion its objective is to clarify “the facts, responsibilities and lessons” regarding the contracting of health supplies in the pandemic by all public administrations, which is why the PSOE has indicated that there must be “absolute transparency” and “whoever falls falls.”
It was at the end of February, after the Koldo case came to light, when the socialists registered this commission. With it, they intend to examine the contracts for anticovid material of the General State Administration for four months and also review the contracting procedures of other administrations.
The PP had already announced that it did not plan to support it because it trusts more than what has been created in the Senate about said case and its ramifications, and does not see it possible to investigate in Congress while it is presided over by the socialist Francina Armengol, who is affected because When he presided over the Balearic government, he bought masks from the Koldo plot. For its part, Vox, which gave its approval to that of the Upper House, had also decided for days to vote against that of Congress, alleging that in the PSOE they are not “qualified” to demand responsibilities and only seek to “spread doubts”.
“If you are not going to resign, and obviously you do not intend to resign,” began the general secretary of the Popular Parliamentary Group, Macarena Montesinos, in the plenary session in reference to Armengol, “we will have to abstain.” “And we place them in the Senate, where “A truly independent commission of inquiry will begin its work very soon,” he added.
Montesinos was very critical of the actions of the Armengol government, who was not present in the plenary session until the end of it. She guaranteed that the PP will do everything possible to get it “to the end”, but argued that Congress is not the ideal forum to achieve this since its president should be one of those investigated in said commission.
The one who did vote in favor was former minister Ábalos, who was expelled from the socialist parliamentary group when the scandal broke out on February 27 despite not having been present at the beginning of the debate and attended when the intervention of the PP parliamentary group began. At the end of the session, the former socialist deputy told the media that he expects the commission to “do its job” and has shown himself willing to appear if it is approved by the parties that will comprise it.
In parallel, the Plenary Session of Congress has rejected the disapproval of the Minister of Finance, Maria Jesús Montero, and the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, promoted by PP and Vox for their links to the plot.
It was this Thursday with the vote on the motions as a result of the urgent interpellations last week directed by PP and Vox to the Government, which have been rejected with the vote against the PSOE and its partners – except the BNG which in the disapproval de Torres has abstained -, while PP, Vox and UPN have voted in favor.
Specifically, the PP wanted Congress to urge the Minister of Territorial Policy to assume political responsibilities for the purchase of masks when he was president of the Canary Islands and also for senior officials. And they also sought to call on the Government to ensure that “any investigation promoted by the State Security Forces and Bodies through judicial bodies is carried out “in an independent and timely manner”, without “interference or political pressure of any kind and with the collaboration of all affected administrations”.
