The 'Koldo case' that broke out last week and fully affects the former advisor of José Luis Ábalos, is one of the dozens of cases that have been opened over the last three years due to the million-dollar contracts that the administrations had to offer. on an urgent basis in the bloodiest time of Covid-19, in which more than 800 people died daily from the virus.
The policies put in place to try to stop the spread of the virus introduced the possibility of awarding public contracts without competition. In those days of March, million-dollar contracts were offered to purchase medical supplies, and they were done urgently. At that moment Pandora's box was opened. Senior officials from that time remember how at that time, obtaining masks was the closest thing to what is commonly called a “Persian market.” The Prosecutor's Office already knew from the beginning that this would cause problems.
In its audit, the Court of Auditors already detected that a series of companies had taken over a good part of the awards. Furthermore, he warned that in a significant number of cases, the capacity of the successful bidders to be able to enter into contracts with the public sector was not verified, nor their economic, financial and technical solvency, nor their corporate purpose. However, he acknowledged that although they could be improved, no irregularities were detected.
After the pandemic, complaints and complaints poured in. They mainly came from political parties in the opposition that denounced the Government of the day. Thus, the PSOE, Podemos and Sumar have denounced the regional governments of the PP, mainly the one in Madrid, and the PP has denounced various administrations of the central government.
Since then, both the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, the European Prosecutor's Office and the provincial prosecutors have reviewed each of the complaints, including several that affect the Ministry of Health of Salvador Illa.
Many of them are being archived. As the Anti-Corruption prosecutor who is now handling the Koldo issue recalls in his complaint, “the emergency situation caused by the pandemic meant the need to provide Public Administration workers with health protection material in a context of enormous increase of the demand for this type of goods.”
The European public procurement directive provides that in a situation of unpredictability and urgency, the Public Administration can award a contract directly to a pre-selected company, instead of using a normal competitive procedure. “This exception is intended for public buyers to acquire essential supplies and services in the shortest possible time,” he says.
For this reason, the contracts investigated in the Koldo case awarded by ADIF, State Ports and the Ministry of the Interior do not present “significant irregularities.” There were no failures such as the lack of solvency of the successful bidder in compliance with the requirements in any emergency public contract award process. The illegality does not come from the award but from the rigging before and after it.
In this case, what is being investigated is that Koldo García, as then advisor to the Minister of Transport, arranged with a businessman, Víctor de Aldama, so that through a shell company they would present themselves for the offer. In exchange, some succulent commissions, which in García's case would amount to 1.5 million euros. By pulling the thread of the winning company, it was discovered not only its real administrators but also that part of the public money that they kept from profits - more than 20 million euros - was moved to shell companies in countries like Brazil and Luxembourg, and from there that the crime of money laundering be investigated.
Not only that. The company used was not active. It would have been created by Juan Carlos Cueto. However, he did not appear at any time during the contracting process, even though he spoke with Koldo García and he knew who was really after the company with contracts that amounted to 54 million euros, Management Solutions.
The reason is that he was being investigated for a bribery case. As a result of this police investigation, “he would no longer appear in the corporate bodies of the commercial companies of this group (Grupo Cueto). However, as indicated in the police report, his participation in the business activity would not have ceased,” warns the prosecutor.
Ábalos acknowledged in an interview offered to La Sexta this Saturday, that this company had presented as previous experience to obtain the contract the accreditation of having participated in a hospital in Angola. In addition, he recalled that Management Solutions advanced the money to the Ministry with a bond, as a responsibility in advance that after collecting the contract it was returned. “Not all companies can pay this bond,” explained the former minister who disassociated himself from this operation and defended the legality of the contracting.
