Angel Victor Torres This Tuesday he faced the difficult task of explaining his communications with members of the Koldo’s conspiracy revealed following the release of the latest UCO report.
In his appearance full of fallacies, half-truths and silences, the Minister of Territorial Policy dismissed himself in a hasty and self-complacent mannerhiding behind the fact that the report shows “no bites, no apartments in Atocha, no sexually exploited women”.
By limiting himself to denying without proof an accusation made against him Victor de AldamaTorres tries to avoid the essence of the issue. This concerns his intervention as president of the Canaries to monitor compliance with the mask sales contract, signed with the company investigated in the plot of the Ministry of Transport’s million-dollar contracts for medical supplies.
What is more, It has been proven that he lied when he claimed not to know Aldama. If you had an encounter with him in a restaurant, as documented by the audio collected in the police dossier, it cannot be said to be a casual encounter.
The information known so far is enough to demand political responsibility from Torres.
Because the facts reflected in the report prove that Torres tried to facilitate what turned out to be a criminal conspiracy conceived in the Government of which it is now part, and which allegedly paid and charged illegal commissions in exchange for fraud in public contracts.
Under the Contract Law, a regional president cannot order an entity dependent on his government to pay a company just because he considers it appropriate, ignoring legal procedures and trying to speed up procedures without carrying out the checks required by members of his government.
However, according to the report, Torres promised Koldo Garcia overcome “the resistance” of his team to paying for masks “without checks”.
And it may be that, as the minister argues, he did not receive any compensation for these efforts.
But regardless of whether or not there was fraud, or expectation of personal benefit, What is undeniable is that he incurred flagrant favoritism taking a special interest in these payments, prioritizing them to the detriment of others, urging compliance with the contract with Soluciones de Gestión SL and pressuring the responsible employee who objected to the payment of the invoice in a rude and unacceptable tone.
It is evident that, at the very least, Torres was seeking political sponsorship from the party’s Secretary of Organization at that time, through the intercession of his advisor Koldo. Which also explains the reverential treatment that was professed concussions when I visited the Canary Islands.
The report shows that, during his tenure as president of the Canary Islands, he used Koldo as an intermediary to obtain help from the Government and increase his influence in the Council of Ministers.
And if Torres accelerated the process of charging the mask company, it is because this payment was of interest to Ábalos. Not in vain, Koldo thanked the minister for his “personal involvement”.
This pressure to fulfill the contract with Commissioner Aldama’s company represents a violation of the principle of equal treatment before the Administration. Because although some of its actions could have been covered by the exceptional nature of a health emergency situation, the remaining detailed actions cannot be justified.
Even assuming that, as Torres claims, there was no intention to act illegally, liability in this case is inevitable. Because he demonstrated conduct that was inappropriate for fairness between contractors and compliance with administrative procedures that every government official must respect.
For all these reasons, without waiting for what the criminal investigation may bring, there is enough material for Ángel Víctor Torres to resign. And if he doesn’t, he should be fired.. Because the role of president is incompatible with that of director.