Agents of the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard have been deployed since early this Thursday in a new operation linked to a secret part of the so-called Koldo case, a branch in which alleged rigging in the Ministry of Transport during José Luis Ábalos's time as minister is being investigated, as police sources have confirmed to La Vanguardia.
Within the framework of this action, investigators are searching the home in Valencia of the former organization secretary of the PSOE Santos Cerdán, while examining new suspicions about the possible commission of a money laundering crime. The former minister's current partner, Andrea de la Torre, who resides at that address, has been arrested, in an operation that already totals six arrests in Valencia, Madrid, Córdoba and Seville.
The Audiencia Nacional requests information from ADIF
The judge of the Audiencia Nacional Ismael Moreno has also ordered to request information from ADIF (Railway Infrastructure Administrator), one of the entities at the center of the investigation, according to the same sources. The secret piece has been opened at the request of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office based on a new report prepared by the UCO.
More arrests and new lines of investigation
Among those arrested is Cristian Corvillo, arrested in Córdoba and linked to the commissioner Víctor de Aldama, convicted along with José Luis Ábalos in the Supreme Court for corrupting the former minister. Corvillo has been related to the so-called mask case through his company Corvillo Energy, associated with an attempt to buy the chalet in La Alcaidesa (Cádiz) for Ábalos, and also with the hydrocarbon fraud in which Aldama is being investigated. Until now, the businessman had testified as a witness and was not listed as an accused.
Pending cases in the Audiencia Nacional
Although José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García are in prison serving the 24-year sentence imposed by the Supreme Court, both maintain open judicial fronts in the Audiencia Nacional, where alleged rigging in public companies linked to Transport, such as ADIF, and in other public contracts are being investigated.
Also appearing in this case is the former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE Santos Cerdán, identified as the alleged leader of the network to manage contract awards from Transport to companies such as Acciona, in exchange for a commission. Another of those investigated is the former president of ADIF Isabel Pardo de Vera, to whom the authorization of contracts to Ábalos's ex-partner, Jéssica Rodríguez, and a friend of hers, Claudia Montes, is attributed.
In recent interviews, Isabel Pardo de Vera has stated that she was asked to place people "affiliated" with the PSOE in ADIF, while legal sources maintain that the former president of the public company would be open to negotiating with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.