The National Court indicts the former president of Adif and the former director general of Highways in the Koldo case.

BarcelonaThe National Court has taken action and summoned former Adif president Isabel Pardo de Vera and former Director General of Highways Javier Herrero as suspects in the Koldo case. They are due to testify on July 21 at 11:00 a.m. after the Supreme Court found evidence of their involvement in the alleged scheme of irregular awarding contracts, according to a ruling by Judge Ismael Moreno.

The investigating judge in the case at the Supreme Court, Leopoldo Puente, Last week he asked the Court to charge the two former Transport officials because he considers that they could have facilitated the successful completion of the contracts planned by former minister José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García - allegedly in exchange for commissions -. The judge based his argument on the content of the report by the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard that brought down former PSOE leader Santos Cerdán and who is being investigated by the Supreme Court because the facts attributed to him are closely linked to those charged to Ábalos, still a member of Congress and.

In the audios of the caseIn the documents found by the armed forces in Koldo García's phone and included in the aforementioned report, there are several references to Pardo de Verda and Herrero. In one of them, for example, the former advisor refers to "fourteen Adif projects" and tells Ábalos that "Isabel" has told him that "five should be awarded to Acciona, Sacyr, or Ferrovial." At another point, he also tells the former Minister of Transport that Pardo and Herrero "should give something" to the broker Víctor de Aldama for his mediation.

The National Court's move comes at a time when the court itself is already Pardo de Vera is being investigated for the "apparently irregular hiring" of Jessica Rodriguez.Ábalos's ex-partner, in the public companies Ineco and Tragsatec. And all this, while the statements of those investigated in the Supreme Court for the Cerdán case are progressing. This Monday they testified Servinabar's administrator, Antxon Alonso, which has dismissed the former number three of the Socialists from the company, and the former Acciona executive, Fernando Merino. Both have been released but with precautionary measures: the judge has revoked their passports and they will be required to appear in court every two weeks.

Koldo García, private construction commission agent

Alonso, who only answered questions from his lawyer, acknowledged before Judge Puente that Cerdán signed a document to become a partner and acquired almost half of the shares of Servinabar, a key company in the alleged corruption scheme, but he claimed it was never executed. An explanation, aligned with the former Socialist leader's version, that doesn't quite convince the judge: Puente questions "why Don Joseba Antxon, a self-proclaimed good friend of Don Santos, kept the private document in his home so many years later."

The construction company has also admitted to making payments to Koldo García for his intermediation in private construction projects between 2015 and 2016, when the PSOE was not yet in power in Spain, but has denied having paid illegal commissions in exchange for public works contracts. In this regard, it has confirmed that Servinabar—awarded contracts from the Navarre government valued at more than €75 million, according to the UCO—made a donation of €4,500 to Fiadelso, a private foundation founded by former minister Ábalos. However, it clarified that this was done for tax reasons, with the aim of deducting taxes, and that similar donations were also made to football and rugby teams and Save the Children. The suspicion of the Civil Guard—and the judge—is that these payments "could have been repeated and periodic" in return for obtaining public contracts.

The judge sees the evidence as "clear."

Be that as it may, the judge believes there remains "sufficient" evidence, considering that the businessman could have "benefited, in exchange for a price," from the awarding of the works, which could constitute the crimes of membership in a criminal organization and active bribery. For this reason, he has imposed a ban on him leaving Spain and ordered him to appear in court every two weeks. The same measure has been imposed on Fernando Merino, the former Acciona executive under investigation in the case, about whom Puente believes it is "clear" that evidence persists.

Along the same lines as Antxon, Merino has denied having paid money to any of those under investigation in exchange for contracts awarded. Regarding the fact that Acciona has submitted public works projects to the UTE (Temporary Joint Venture) with Servinabar, he argued that the latter was a local construction company and that it was common to partner with it to obtain contracts in the area. And he has limited his contacts with Koldo and Cerdán to the Navarrese area. The suspect, who responded to his defense, the prosecutor, and the judge, also said he was unaware that the former had referred to him as "the Cordovan", as can be seen from the UCO report.