A senior ADIF official made clear to the Civil Guard in his witness statement the relevance that Koldo García had as Ábalos' advisor. The director of Human Resources of the railway infrastructure administrator – dependent on the Ministry of Transport –, Martín José Navarro, assured that Koldo “was the person who had to be spoken to to access the minister”, in reference to José Luis Ábalos. After referring to him as “the assistant” of the then head of Transportation, Navarro claimed to have met Koldo “at ministry events” related “to the railway” and “during the pandemic.”
The ADIF leader referred to a shipment of masks to the Ministry of the Interior, recalling that for this reason “he contacted Koldo to return that order of masks to ADIF”, because they had to distribute them. Finally, he explained, “the masks were returned.”
The human resources director of the railway manager said, however, that he has not had contact with Koldo García “since the minister was fired” in 2021. Likewise, when asked about Joseba García, Koldo's brother and also accused, he said he did not know him at all.
ADIF was the second public body to contract with Gestión Soluciones – the “plot” company that won administration awards worth more than 53 million euros in the middle of the pandemic – for the supply of masks. It did so on March 27, a week after Puertos del Estado – which was the one that opened the ban in the Ábalos ministry – for an amount of 12.5 million euros.
The Secretary of State for Security of the Ministry of the Interior would be next, awarding Management Solutions a contract worth almost three million euros on April 20 for the supply of masks for the department's staff.
He maintained his “ability to influence” in the ministry
The Civil Guard considers that Koldo had a “personal and direct relationship” with officials and senior officials of the Ministry of Transport “who participate in the files of the investigated contracts” – links that were maintained, according to police surveillance and listening, after the departure of Ábalos from the ministry–, among them with Michaux Miranda, general director of People Management, whom he would have currently turned to “to exercise his influence on matters within ADIF's jurisdiction.”
Some contacts thanks to which, as the judge of the National Court Ismael Moreno has recalled, Koldo would have maintained, despite not being part of the Public Administration, “ability to influence personnel linked” to the Ministry. In addition to Miranda, the investigation has revealed contacts with the dismissed Secretary General of State Ports, Álvaro Sánchez Manzanares; Jesús Manuel Gómez García, Undersecretary of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda; Vicente Calzado, current general director of Emfesa (where Koldo's brother would continue to be employed); Ángel Contreras, General Director of Conservation and Maintenance of ADIF; and Cristina Moreno, general director of the State Transport Infrastructure Society (Seitt).
The efforts to place Koldo's nephew
In fact, the UCO believes that Koldo García tried to involve his nephew in ADIF after his brother, Joseba García, asked him to use “his influence” in the public body for the “direct benefit” – emphasizes the Civil Guard – of ” his son Aner García”.
On October 17 of last year, the two brothers talked about this matter, with Joseba alluding to Michaux Miranda – who was the one who signed the contract by which Soluciones de Gestión was awarded the supply of five million masks. In that conversation, the Civil Guard reports, Koldo “alludes to knowing him” since “he would speak with him to mediate another matter of Joseba's interest unrelated to the ongoing investigation.”
The agents questioned both Miranda and Navarro in relation to this matter, but both stated that they did not know Koldo García's nephew at all. In addition, the Civil Guard wanted to know if they had received “pressure” to carry out hiring at ADIF – which the two denied – and even asked them if, due to their positions, they had access to competitive exams.
Miranda denied having provided an exam to work at ADIF to any person directly or on the recommendation of someone and, along the same lines, his subordinate explained that it was “another management” that had access to the opposition exams.