The National Court is preparing to trace cash payments from the PSOE to the Koldo plot. In the absence of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office ruling on this new line of investigations, the indications noted in the harsh order of the Supreme Court magistrate, Leopoldo Puente, lead to a in-depth investigation not only from the items that Koldo García received in cash, but from the payment system in Ferraz which applied, as the former manager said in his statement, to “the entire Executive.”
Legal sources consulted by LA RAZÓN explain that the objective is to clarify the mechanism that regulated these deliveries and also the origin of the money that fed the party’s coffers. It should be remembered that the party provided “motu propu” to the Supreme Court documentation that it had omitted in the previous requests of Judge Leopoldo Puente, in which it determined the items delivered to the three alleged ringleaders of the network (José Luis Ábalos, Koldo García and Santos Cerdán), as well as the withdrawal of cash from the party’s bank accounts for cash payments.
In this regard, they revealed that between 2017 (when Pedro Sánchez regained the general secretary of the party) and 2024 they withdrew 940,388 euros from the bank,that is, almost a million euros. In line, from the documents delivered to the Supreme Court and that Judge Moreno will now investigate, it appears that some of the payments to Santos Cerdán They exceeded 1,000 euros; maximum limit established by this Government in the law against tax fraud of July 2021. Specifically, it appears that in September 2023, the then Secretary of Organization received 1,072 euros, while in January 2024 he earned 1,587 euros.
The payment mechanism
Ferraz revealed these points at the doors of the court statement of the former party manager Mariano Moreno Pavón and the employee of the Organization Secretariat, Celia Rodríguez. For the Koldo case instructor, these testimonies, far from dispelling the already existing suspicions about the metal, They fueled them even more. So, the first thing to investigate is the lack of agreement among the items that the PSOE justified as liquidation of expenses with the money that Koldo received, especially after the imbalances detected by the Civil Guard in its last report.
The Supreme Court understands it as an alleged irregularity that must be addressed, especially after neither José Luis Ábalos nor Koldo García commented on it in their last court summons. The witnesses, for their part, endorsed the party’s version and explained that if these amounts do not add up, it is because the cash was not going to the accused, but instead responded to expenses of the Organization Secretariat which the former Valencian minister then controlled.
However, these explanations caused even more confusion, since neither the Supreme Court nor the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office explained the reason why Ábalos’s then advisor collected some items that not only do not correspond to him, but are foreign to him, since he does not have an organic position in Ferraz. Likewise, Puente reproached the witnesses for giving the money to third parties (sometimes Koldo’s ex-partner or brother and sometimes even to a messenger). Furthermore, from his messages it appears that the money was taken directly to the home that Ábalos occupied at the time.
Also responsible for ensuring that they reach their recipients
Asked if verification was made that the cash arrived at the Organization Secretariat, the witnesses denied it. According to Moreno Pavón, the expenses had to be approved by the Secretary of Organization, while Rodríguez said that, after the signature of Ábalos or Cerdán, they were reviewed in Administration. However, they They did not verify that the tickets presented (mostly due to diet or mileage) were correct.
With this breeding ground, the magistrate pointed out on October 31 to “the possible existence of irregular conduct or activities, and even potentially criminal” which will now be investigated in the National Court as it is the competent body for this. Now, Puente made it clear that “the activity” of the PSOE is not inextricably linked to the alleged criminal acts that surface in the Koldo case.
However, the investigation that Ismael Moreno is now undertaking may complicate the criminal horizon for the PSOE since, according to the sources consulted by this means, the party’s payment system will be reviewed between 2017 and 2024, years in which the alleged criminal organization operated. This implies that the mechanics of these disbursements will be thoroughly analyzed to clarify the reasons for the lack of control over the payments, the lack of information about them or whether the money finally reached its supposed recipients.
The witnesses complicate the PSOE
For all this, it is not ruled out that the magistrate agree to new summons that affect Ferraz, taking into account, furthermore, that among the documents that the Supreme Court has sent to the Court is the confession of Carmen Pano, the businesswoman who has reiterated before the Civil Guard, in the Supreme Court and in the National Court that led 90,000 euros in cash to the PSOE by order of Víctor de Aldama in the middle of the pandemic.
The businessman himself also explained before the judge in December of last year that part of the bribes that the network would have distributed went to the PSOE. Asked about the exact amount, he explained that between 3.5 and 4 million euros, according to what Koldo García told him. Precisely, Judge Moreno has just summoned Aldama and Koldo for the next November 27 and 28, for an alleged influence peddling with the plot’s mask contracts to the Canary Islands government of Ángel Víctor Torres. It remains to be seen if the commission agent again points out in his new court date to alleged irregular financing of the PSOE.
For his part, the magistrate is already studying the request of the popular accusations of the procedure that the party be expelled from the case. According to what they state, with the opening of these proceedings, the party may become directly affected by the investigationso it could not continue litigating as a popular accusation.