The day Aldama met Sánchez: "He thanked me for everything I was doing"

MadridKey day in the mask trial, which began in the Supreme Court at the beginning of April. After ten sessions, it is time for the statements of the three defendants: José Luis Ábalos, Koldo García and Víctor de Aldama. The first to be questioned is the businessman and alleged fixer for the network, for whom the Prosecutor's Office is seeking seven years in prison – much less than Ábalos and Koldo – and who agreed to cooperate with justice while in pre-trial detention for alleged hydrocarbon fraud. Just as he said at the time, he has recounted how he met Pedro Sánchez. It was in February 2019 at the end of a PSOE rally in Madrid at the Teatro de La Latina: "I get up, I approach Koldo and he tells me to go with him behind the theatre, that there is a private area where the president will receive me," he has recounted. And he recalled what the Spanish president told him: "Thank you very much for everything, I know perfectly well what you are doing and I just wanted to thank you." At that time, Aldama was surprised by Koldo's "closeness" to Sánchez. "I didn't call him president, I called him Pedro," he has highlighted. And he said what Ábalos's advisor at the time replied: "The day the president tells me I have to call him president, I'll leave the PSOE. He owes me a lot and he knows why."

"Ladies" for Ábalos

At another time, Víctor de Aldama explained the day he himself paid for "escorts" for José Luis Ábalos: "Koldo tells me that something has to be organized for the boss so that he can relax. He tells me that some escorts have to be found and presented to the boss," he said. They went to a restaurant in Mexico and "brought some escorts" who stayed with the then Minister of Transport. "It is the first and only time that I arrange for escorts to be with Ábalos, I pay for them," he concluded.

Construction companies for the financing of the PSOE

After Victor de Aldama's statement, Koldo and Ábalos will have to testify. The three are accused of alleged irregularities in the purchase of masks during the pandemic,

After the statement of Víctor de Aldama, Koldo and Ábalos will have to testify. The three are accused of alleged irregularities in the purchase of masks during the pandemic, thecronyism of women close to the then number three of the PSOE and other favors that are under suspicion. The man who was of maximum confidence of Pedro Sánchez is in Soto del Real prison for five months and faces between 24 years and 30 years in prison. Nine crimes will be on the table, including membership in a criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling, and embezzlement.

According to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, the then minister used his "valuable influence," the advisor took advantage of his "services," and the businessman and alleged facilitator sought companies or individuals who wanted to carry out dealings with the administration to assert their interests in an "arbitrary" manner. All this, in exchange for the "continued payment of large sums of money" within the framework of a "criminal conspiracy."

Early this morning, in Congress, the PP has taken the opportunity to harshly criticize Pedro Sánchez. Feijóo to Sánchez: "Ábalos' trial is a trial of your government. For that reason alone, he should be sitting there," Alberto Núñez Feijóo snapped at the president of the government. The PP's number two, Miguel Tellado, has accused Yolanda Díaz of looking the other way regarding alleged corruption related to the PSOE and of being resigned to "see, hear, and remain silent." And the PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, also lashed out at the first vice president of the government, Carlos Cuerpo: "If he were an honest man, he would be asking for the president's resignation, but he is more sanchismo".