The former advisor of José Luis Ábalos Koldo García earned more than 26,000 euros as an “executive” in the PSOE between 2017 and 2019; dates in which his then boss was secretary of organization of the socialists. 2018 was the year in which Pedro Sánchez came to government after the motion of censure against Mariano Rajoy, and Ábalos was appointed Minister of Transport. At that time, Koldo began to collect 70,000 euros for his position in the Ministry of Transport.
All of this income was accompanied by his disability pension of 20,000 euros, which he did not stop collecting in all these years. In addition to the ministry's payment and his pension, his salary was also supported by 4,300 euros as a director of Renfe and another 7,000 euros from Puertos del Estado. According to a report from the central operational unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard that analyzes Koldo's work life, he received “as a payroll, bonuses between the years 2017 and 2019 for a total of 26,619 euros that would have originated in the PSOE. It should be remembered that according to Koldo García's work life, he was registered as an executive of the PSOE from October 25, 2017 to June 12, 2018,” he points out.
In this report, researchers study Koldo's income and his surroundings. Both his wife and his brother Joseba had ties to Transportation. The investigative unit has focused on a contract – worth half a million euros – that Adif awarded on May 25, 2022 to a temporary union of companies (UTE) that had not yet been established. Once the merger of companies was formalized, in November of that same year, the entity dependent on the Ministry of Transport awarded another contract of 5.2 million euros.
But what is really “striking” to researchers are two aspects. One, that before granting the contracts, the then minister José Luis Ábalos; His advisor, Koldo García, and two of the company representatives met at the Granada inn. That appointment in the Andalusian city was on July 7, 2021; three days before Sánchez embarked on the government crisis that removed his trusted man from the Council of Ministers. Two, that the analysis of the bank accounts of García's wife, Patricia Uriz, reflects that she was employed by one of the UTE companies, Áridos Anfersa, since 2022. "Specifically, less than two months after" one of the awards. He received a total of 7,791 euros from her.
The Civil Guard has detected payments from the former minister for around 14,000 euros among its accounts. But also the other way around, from García to Ábalos for a total of 26,274 euros. The former minister, provisionally suspended from militancy by the PSOE, has recognized these payments. But the agents are also interested in the transfers that the former bodyguard made to Ábalos' ex-wives: three transfers between 2018 and 2019 for an amount of 2,512 euros.
There is another movement on which the UCO also puts the magnifying glass: a payment of nine transfers – for a total of 1,052 euros – that the former advisor made to a law firm of which the former PSPV deputy in Congress Francesc Romeu is a part. He is currently a member of the governing council of State Ports.
The transfers were made between January 31, 2022 and January 16, 2023, when Ábalos was no longer in charge of Transportation. The agents describe it as “coincidental” that Romeu is the owner of a home located in Madrid “where García has been seen spending the night on several occasions.” From the analysis of the accounts of Joseba García, Koldo's brother, another 1,220 euros in payments to the same law firm have also been detected.
In parallel to this, the European Prosecutor's Office, which already announced yesterday that it will investigate two contracts in the Koldo plot, will be supervised by the judge of the National Court Manuel García-Castellón.
