Barcelona / Madrid The investigation commission in the Senate on the Koldo case gave the go-ahead this Monday with the appearance of the former adviser of José Luis Ábalos who gives his name to the plot. Koldo García has chosen not to answer anything about the case, but has assured that he has a “very clear conscience”. García has presented himself as the victim of a media persecution. “In the media, I have already been crucified alive and anyone who has been by my side. I can no longer have a relationship with anyone because I can no longer walk down the street,” he complained.
Senators’ questions related to the alleged plot of illegal commissions that has been shaking state politics for weeks have remained unanswered. García was required to appear, but not to testify, and has taken advantage of the right not to do so. The former adviser to the Ministry of Transport has justified his silence by the fact that he is being investigated by the National Court. “All of you will call me when they declare me innocent? This is the question I ask you,” he replied.
Island, in the afternoon at Congress
With four days to go before the official start of the campaign for the Catalan elections on May 12, Salvador Illa appears this afternoon at the congressional commission of inquiry on the same facts. The leader and candidate of the PSC, who leads the polls, will give explanations about the emergency health contracts during the pandemic, when he was in charge of the ministry, and on Wednesday he will do the same in the Senate. From the outset he has denied any employment with the company that used Koldo. Will the pre-campaign of 12-M and the good prospects of the PSC now also shake up?
A report by the Anticorruption Office of the Balearic Islands, one of the administrations affected by the scandal, put the contract made by the Ministry of Health with Sociedades de Gestión, the company at the epicenter of the case, at 40.5 million. This alleged adjudication, however, is not under investigation in the case of the National Court and Illa himself has flatly denied it. He returned to it last Thursday in an interview with RAC1, from where he stated that neither he nor anyone in his team “has committed any irregularities”.
Socialist sources consulted by the ARA assure that the candidate faces this afternoon’s appointment “calmly” and that he will attend with a “willingness to explain himself”, as he already did on 22 occasions in Congress during the pandemic and, also , with 39 oral questions in the Courts (Congress and Senate). In the current context, however, both the PP and ERC and Junts will try to wear it down in an electoral key.
The appearance of Illa, however, is not the only one that will focus all eyes. This very morning, hours before the socialist leader passes through the lower house, Koldo García himself submits to the scrutiny of the Senate. His appearance comes after in an interview in early April a The world defended that he acted “with the sole intention of helping” and denied having paid for the sale of medical equipment.
At the same time, the president of the Court of Auditors, Enriqueta Chicano, is appearing before the congressional commission, and in the afternoon, in parallel with Illa’s turn, the senators will question who was his chief of staff in Health, the also Catalan socialist Víctor Francos, who until the end of last year was president of the Superior Sports Council.
The fact that the two Spanish chambers have commissions and repeated appearances has to do with the tug-of-war between the PP, with an absolute majority in the Senate, and the PSOE, which leads the plurinational majority in Congress. Illa’s appearance this Monday, in fact, seeks to counterprogram Wednesday’s in the Senate and to distance media attention on the PSC candidate for the Koldo case from the beginning of the campaign.
2024-04-22 08:50:24
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