Almeida closes ranks with Ayuso and attacks the Government: “They want to divert attention”
“What alarms me is the enrichment of Ábalos and Koldo, that is what alarms me,” said the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, during an event with questions in the capital. “This is an attempt to divert attention from what is happening with Ábalos, Koldo, and, by extension, with Pedro Sánchez, Mr. X of corruption in Spain.” The former Minister of Transportation, José Luis Ábalos, is not charged in the Koldo case nor is there any information indicating that he has been enriched by the plot.
“If I answered what I would do if my partner was investigated for a fraud of 350,000 euros, I would be giving pause to all those who want to divert attention from the real case of corruption that we now have in Spain, which is that of Koldo, Ábalos, Illa and Armengol”, he insisted. “What indication is there of any relationship between the partner of the president of the Community of Madrid and her institutional relations? “It has no relation to the condition of president.”
Almeida has ignored that of the total amount allegedly defrauded through a scheme of false invoices —350,951 euros, according to Treasury calculations, corresponding to the fiscal years of 2020 and 2021, in which those accused carried out businesses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. coronavirus—the main client is the healthcare giant Quirón. This group manages four hospitals in the public network of the Community of Madrid – the Jiménez Díaz Foundation, the Rey Juan Carlos Hospital, the Infanta Elena and the Villalba General Hospital -.
The Madrid councilor has defended the Madrid president throughout the entire appearance and has gone so far as to say that if the Tax Agency could have included the name of Isabel Díaz Ayuso “in any way”, it would have included it. “And maybe the prosecutor’s office, who does it depend on? Well, no mention.”