The former advisor of José Luis Ábalos Koldo García would have used his links with senior officials of the Ministry of Transportation and other public companies dependent on it, such as ADIF or Puertos del Estado, to create a corruption network, which would have provided him with an increase in three years. assets of 1.5 million euros.
According to the complaint filed by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, and to which La Vanguardia has had access, Koldo García would have used his contacts so that a company, Soluciones de Gestión, would receive a large part of the contracts for the awarding of medical supplies during the pandemic in the Ministry of Transport (MITMA), Adif, Puerto del Estado and the Ministry of the Interior, and which amounted to 53 million euros.
The letter states that Fernando Grande-Marlaska’s department hired this company precisely after learning that the ministry headed by Ábalos counted on it. “From the documentation provided in the requests made to the different organizations, it is not clear how the conditions for awarding the rest of the contracts were agreed upon,” the text states.
Furthermore, the researchers note that no communications were provided between the contracting bodies and the company under investigation that could objectively justify “the decision to award the supply to that company and not to another, nor how and in what way it became known that “That company was a mask supplier.”
In what has been investigated so far, there are indications that the person who provided Soluciones de Gestión with the information about the processes for awarding medical supplies that were going to be opened immediately was Koldo García Izaguirre, a public official at MITMA since June 13, 2018 until July 11, 2021. He was an advisor to Ábalos, advisor to RENFE and member of the Governing Council of the State Ports Public Body.
According to the complaint, Soluciones de Gestión’s contact with Koldo García was made through Víctor Gonzalo de Aldama, president of Zamora CF, whom he knew personally. Both have coincided in a work context, since at least December 2018, when they coincided on an official trip with Ábalos in Mexico.
Investigators have proven that on at least one occasion, Aldama would have turned to García to expedite procedures at the Ministry. There are emails through which it is discovered that those awarded the contracts knew that they were awarded before the public tender came out.
A relevant fact is that the first contract investigated was awarded by Puertos del Estado, of whose Governing Council García was a member, and the second by an entity dependent on MITMA -ADIF-, where he advised its owner. “Subsequently, it was the Ministry of the Interior that awarded the following contracts, as explained above, as a consequence of MITMA decisions,” he adds.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office highlights the “remarkable” increase in Koldo García’s assets since 2020 in recent years, and “he may have made use of third parties close to his family circle with the possible purpose of hiding, or at least hindering, the true ownership of the properties acquired.” ”.
In the period 2020-2022, he has experienced an increase that does not correspond to his salary. During this time, properties worth 1.5 million euros have been purchased. “These acquisitions occurred just five months after the public awards to Management Solutions took place.”
To hide this money, the Prosecutor’s Office points out that he would have used his wife and his minor daughter, with respect to whom he put a property in his name, which was purchased without a mortgage. Koldo García and his wife Patricia Uriz would have deposited a total of 1,421,744 euros into their bank accounts between the years 2017 – 2022. These would have originated, in order from greatest to least importance, in the payrolls and pensions received, the constitution of loans as well as cash income, among others.
The Prosecutor’s Office states that cash income increased “notably” in the month of March 2020, when the contracts were awarded. Discounting the cash income that could come from returns, reimbursement of expenses, trips, purchases of plane tickets, rentals, university and car, the total cash income for Koldo García and his wife has been quantified in cash income worth 138,062 euros “of which to date no justification has been found, nor having been found any ATM withdrawal that could justify the cash deposit into another account.”
