The Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard has evidence of alleged very “tied” crimes against the current Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres. According to sources close to the investigation consulted by LA RAZÓN, the report in which the rest of the evidence found would be marked – apart from that found since the “Koldo case” began and exposed in previous reports – against the minister would already be written, although it has not yet been delivered to the judge conducting the investigations. Among the reasons for the delay in advancing the investigation is the enormous amount of work that investigators endure when investigating most of the causes that surround the Government chaired by Pedro Sánchez.
Although Torres has not yet appeared as an investigator before the Supreme Court – he did do so as a witness and in writing -, for the investigators there are indications, conversations and a chronology that the Civil Guard considers relevant within the so-called “Koldo case”, the alleged plot of public awards and collection of bribes articulated around the former minister José Luis Ábalos, his former advisor Koldo García and the businessman Víctor de Aldama.
The focus of the investigation against the Minister of Territorial Policy is on his alleged role in what was classified by the judge as a criminal organization during his time at the head of the Government of the Canary Islands, which he then awarded to the company Soluciones de Gestión. Key company in the case that keeps Ábalos and Koldo in prison and represented by Aldama the supply of five million masks worth 12.3 million euros under the umbrella of an emergency contract.
In its report, the UCO included messages between the former president of the Canary Islands and the former advisor of José Luis Ábalos, which hinted at the involvement of the now minister in the business of the network company. «Antonio Olivera is going to call you because I am on top of your payment…the material has already been validated and the Treasury has already done the procedure. “It’s already loaded to release the payment.” he told him. Olivera was responsible for the Canarian Health Service and vice-counselor of the Presidency of the Canary Islands. This is a conversation that Koldo later forwarded to the commission agent Aldama.
Torres has always defended that there was no illegal action and said in parliament that he had “never” ordered “to contract with a company.” In his opinion, there was nothing “criminal” in his conversations with Koldo and he assured that his link with him was reduced to the fact that he was the Transport advisor, despite the fact that the conversations found by the agents reveal a possible relationship of trust: “Please can you try to get me to accept this (…) by God if you succeed, I will let myself be raped by you. Pos data the latest no (sic.)”, for example, Koldo wrote to Torres in November 2020.
Before the Supreme Court, he insisted that his only intervention consisted of “verifying commitments pending compliance” after Koldo García, as an advisor to the Ministry of Transport, conveyed to him, in July 2020, his complaints and concern about the non-compliance with commitments by the Canarian Health Service regarding the “Koldo network” business. “I did not give any order or formalize any resolution in favor”he declared.
He also took advantage of his testimony addressed to the high court to defend that the full legality of this tender is based on the fact that the internal audits carried out – by organizations such as the Audiencia de Audiencia de Canarias – showed that there was no “risk” of irregularity and that it was carried out with all the “technical rigor.”
In parallel, the UCO has been maintaining a sequence of events that add credibility to the alleged evidence. Another report from the agents concluded that the former Canary Islands president met with Aldama on July 15, 2020 in a meeting that, presumably, was also attended by Koldo García to discuss the payments to the company in the “Masks plot.” That same night he had dinner with Ábalos and, the next day, Aldama wrote him a message: “I’m Víctor from Air Europa, we were there for a moment in the afternoon.”
The businessman also told the socialist leader that there was a company that they had talked about, which offered PCR, and was “asking for a quote to bring them to Spain.” “I’m telling you in case you want me to give you your phone number and talk to them, in case you are interested in purchasing them,” he told the then regional president, as reflected in a police report. But the minister, joining Sánchez’s usual “I don’t know”, avoided answering whether he ever held a meeting with Aldama and whether he responded to his messages. despite the fact that the UCO revealed that on November 18, 2020, it asked Koldo to send it the contact information of the commission agent.
Noted by Aldama
For his part, Aldama assured, already last November in court, that Víctor Torres “should be quite worried” after he himself stated before the investigator of the “Koldo case” in the National Court (AN), Ismael Moreno, that meeting that appeared in the agents’ reports. In that appearance, the businessman even assured that the former president of the Canary Islands was obsessed with assuming a ministerial portfolio and that he understood that the favors he would be doing for the network would pave his way to the Council of Ministers.
Torres also maintained that he wanted Plus Ultra – and not Air Europa, for which he worked – to be the airline in charge of transporting medical supplies to the Canary Islands and this position was related to alleged pressure exerted by the former president of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, now formally investigated for supposedly having influenced in favor of the rescue of this airline.
In addition, he was implicated by the businessman in the collection of “bites” in exchange for the award to José “Pepe” Ruz – a Valencian businessman investigated in the case – and his company, Levantina, of the renovation of the Royal building to house the headquarters of the Canary Islands Tax Agency. A seven million euro contract that ended up being awarded to Ruz’s company in 2022, despite presenting the lowest economic offer, thanks to a maximum score in subjective criteria. The award occurred after a visit to the Canary Islands by Koldo and Ruz himself, whose reasons according to the UCO “are unknown.” The tender announcement occurred four days after the trip.
The former president spoke with an associate of Aldama
It must be remembered that throughout the investigation of the “Koldo case” it was revealed, so far, that Ángel Víctor Torres maintained direct contact through WhatsApp with one of Víctor de Aldama’s partners in the companies dedicated to the health businesses of the plot.
The then Canarian socialist president told Ignacio Díaz Tapia – one of “the four musketeers” –: “If you can send me the information from the other day to this WhatsApp because I have spoken with (Salvador) Illa these days and it seems that there is a good reception.”
The message was sent on August 25, 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, and contains allusions to the person who was then Minister of Health in the Government of Pedro Sánchez. It was Víctor Torres himself, now Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, who sent this Aldama partner the phone number of his Health Minister on the islands, suggesting, at the same time, that they could later “talk if you like about the progress.”