The Supreme Court has rejected the request of the defense of Koldo García to re-summon Francina Armengol as a witness in the trial for the alleged irregularities in the purchase of masks during the pandemic. The decision was communicated at the end of the seventh session of the oral trial by magistrate Andrés Martínez Arrieta, president of the court in charge of the case.
The petition had been formulated by the lawyer Leticia de la Hoz, legal representative of Koldo García, who even requested the “urgent” suspension of the trial. As an alternative, she proposed that Armengol declare again due to the appearance of “new facts” collected in a recent report by the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard on the acquisition of sanitary material in Baleares during the pandemic.
However, the high court has considered that the necessary requirements are not met to adopt any of these measures. In its resolution, the magistrates emphasize that there are no sufficient grounds to justify the nullity of the procedure or the repetition of Armengol's testimony, thus closing this avenue requested by the defense.
It should be remembered that both Francina Armengol, in her capacity as former president of the Govern balear, and Ángel Víctor Torres, former president of Canarias, already gave written statements as witnesses at the beginning of the trial. Both availed themselves of this right due to their status as former regional presidents, and their testimonies were read during the first session of the process.
In the trial are also accused the former Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos, Koldo García himself, and the businessman Víctor de Aldama. The case investigates alleged irregularities in contracts for the supply of sanitary material in the most critical moments of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the same day, the former senior official of the Ministry of Transport, Alejandro de las Alas, testified as a witness and stated that Koldo García demanded from him in a “very imperative” manner the keys to a warehouse where masks were stored. According to his account, the request was not an ordinary petition, but an order made with “absolute vehemence,” motivated by the authority that, as he was told, García had within the ministry.
Despite this episode, De las Alas defended that there was no lack of control in the management of sanitary material. In relation to a subsequent audit carried out during the stage of the current minister Óscar Puente, the witness affirmed that the storage and distribution system was “very controlled”, highlighting that the masks were guarded and distributed periodically to different public bodies.
