Does Francina Armengol know Victor de Aldama?
The president of Congress says she met once when she was accompanying the CEO of Air Europa and frames the messages with Koldo within a "working" relationship.
Barcelona"I have neither lied nor withheld information." This is how the Speaker of Congress, Francina Armengol, responded when asked by the Senate's Koldo case investigation committee why, in her last appearance, she claimed not to know businessman Víctor de Aldama, even though she now admits she met with him there in November 2020. After Aldama said he had been at the headquarters of the Presidency of the Balearic Islands Government, the former island president explained that she reviewed the agenda with her team and that it "only" makes sense to her that Aldama accompanied Air Europa executive Pepe Hidalgo at the Consolat de Mar as an advisor on one occasion.
In a tense appearance, especially during the questions from the PP and Vox, Armengol justified herself by arguing that it is impossible to remember the faces of everyone she met, especially if it is an advisor attending as a companion: "I have met many times with Air Europa, with Iberia, with Bale. CEOs. The rest, no idea," she expressed. The former president explained that the meeting with Air Europa was part of a context in which the merger of this company with Iberia was being considered, and the Balearic government wanted to know the details of the operation to gauge the impact it could have on the workers and "fundamental" services of the companies on the islands.
A "working" relationship with Koldo
After insisting that he has not exchanged messages with Aldama and that he has not spoken to or had any contact with him, Armengol has also distanced himself from Koldo García. He framed the messages he shared with the former advisor to the Ministry of Transport as a "working" relationship and denied having met with businessmen at Koldo's request. When asked about these messages from PP senator Fernando Martínez-Maíllo, Armengol explained that he changed his cell phone when he assumed the presidency of the Lower House and that he lost some chats, including the one he had with Koldo. "I recovered the WhatsApp"Because if not, the UCO will recover them," Maíllo told him.
Everything was done "in accordance with the law"
ERC senator Joan Queralt focused his questions on more technical issues surrounding the management of healthcare procurement during the pandemic by the Balearic Islands government, then headed by Armengol. In response to the senator's questions, Armengol responded that all contracts were made "in accordance with current legislation" and that she, as president, was not involved in the contracting, but rather that a "very cross-party" group did. The former president asserted that she "never" asked "anyone" to contract with a specific company and distanced herself from possible corruption schemes: "If any of the companies we contracted were illegally enriched, it is not my government's responsibility, because we purchase according to technical criteria endorsed by the Anti-Corruption Office and the S."
