February 20 was an especially intense day for the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, which is carrying out the investigations into the Koldo case who directs the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. After almost two years of secret investigation, Judge Ismael Moreno, instructor of the National Court, gave them the green light to carry out the arrests of the main people involved in the alleged corruption plot that obtained contracts for the supply of masks and medical supplies from the Public administration in exchange for the payment of illegal commissions. The magistrate also authorized them to, for 32 hours (from 7:00 a.m. on February 20 to 3:00 p.m. on the 21st), be able to search almost thirty homes, company headquarters and warehouses of the suspects. And, precisely, one of the juiciest targets was the house of Koldo García, whom other members of the corrupt network supposedly referred to by the alias K.
In fact, the result was quite satisfactory. At the home of the former socialist collaborator, the UCO found a notebook with notes of alleged cash deliveries of 10,000 euros — which, according to the agents, strengthens the thesis that the plot made “recurrent” payments in b to the former advisor of Ábalos, who managed huge amounts of cash and who was seen paying with a 500 euro bill at the seafood restaurant La Chalana—.
And it was not the only notable material that the civil guards intervened during the inspection of the half dozen rooms they visited in this home. For example, according to the records, they found the striking figure of 23 mobile phones and 12 hard drives. They also seized “crypto assets worth 586 euros existing in a Binance account” linked to an alleged email of Koldo García, who “were transferred to a wallet (cryptocurrency wallet) generated by DC3 agents [Departamento Contra el Cibercrimen] of the UCO.” And nine firearms: five rifles (some with telescopic sights), three shotguns and a nine-millimeter caliber pistol.
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Another important discovery was made in the master bedroom: 24,000 euros in cash. Distributed like this: three 500 euro bills; two for 200 euros; 54 of 100 euros; 314 of 50 euros; and 50 of 20 euros. Added to this was an envelope with “torn bills” inside. To Joseba García, Koldo’s brother whose agents intercepted one of the most suggestive telephone conversations (“pa [sic] to go to work right now they have to give me 60,000 turkeys a year because, if not, I’m not going to get out of bed”), they found another 5,850 euros distributed in a helmet kept on a shelf (100 50-euro bills) and in the case of an electronic tablet (17 fifty).
Two nights in the dungeons
After the arrest and search, the ordeal of Ábalos’ former advisor continues. Koldo García spent two nights behind bars. First, according to the summary, the agents took him that same February 20 to the “departments of the Civil Guard Company of San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante) for safekeeping.” But, “given the high occupancy [sic] from the cells, it was necessary to transfer him to the police stations in Alicante” capital.
The next day, the armed institute took him to the Tres Cantos Civil Guard Headquarters (Madrid). There, accompanied by his lawyer Javier Pimentel, he refuses to answer the investigators’ questions, despite the fact that when he was arrested on the morning of February 20 in Polop he told the agents his intention to testify. The same thing happened with his brother Joseba and with Víctor de Aldama, president of Zamora CF and one of the key businessmen in the summary: that, when they were arrested, they told the members of the armed institute that they were going to talk; and yet they refused the next day.
An attitude that the three maintained on February 22, already before Judge Ismael Moreno, when they availed themselves of their right to remain silent. The judge then released them. And they left the National Court around 2:00 p.m. on February 22. Koldo García was dressed in a cap and black jacket, and without making any statements to the crowd of journalists stationed there. By then, the magnitude of the scandal was incalculable.
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