Businessman Victor de Aldama ratified this Thursday morning, before the National Court, before the judge Ismael Morenowho met with then-President Canary Islands And today the Minister of Regional Policy, Angel Victor Torres, to negotiate mask contracts for the islands amid the pandemic.
“I am preparing evidence and the minister must be worried,” Aldama said as he left court after testifying before the judge. The businessman added to the press: “I announced and answered everyone’s questions, not like others,” without wanting to comment on anything else “out of respect for the room.”
Aldama indicated, according to sources who attended the statement, that Torres was “obsessed” with obtaining a ministerial portfolio in exchange for providing “services.” He also confirmed that Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska and then-Health Chief Salvador Illa “were aware” of the secret visit of Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and the negotiations to purchase masks.
He also noted, according to these same sources, that his monthly payment of “€10,000 to Koldo García opened doors everywhere,” including the sale of masks in the Canary Islands.
Aldama also confirmed that current Minister Torres was going to ask for 50,000 euros to accelerate mask contracts through Koldo García.
Minister Torres has repeatedly denied the aforementioned meeting, but de Aldama told the judge that he met the current minister, specifically at a dinner party attended by José Luis Abalos and Koldo García, in court. Jay Ali Restauranton July 15, 2020.
Aldama provided all sorts of details about the meeting, in which the then President of the Canary Islands asked his partner present at the meeting to send masks to the islands, and where according to the businessman’s account he always admitted that he was receiving “strong pressure” from the islands’ tourism business, given the closure of tourism and airports by decision of the central government due to the pandemic.
Although the Minister and his entourage affirmed both positively and negatively that he “never sat at a table” with de Aldama, even the Central Operations Unit of the Civil Guard picked up a message days later from Torres to Koldo García that allegedly referred to today’s agent: “Today I will speak with the person I met a few days ago in the restaurant. Rest assured, I will do my best.”
De Aldama declared himself a defendant in the mask conspiracy, which later led to allegedly backed contracts for García, Ábalos and his successor as PSOE Regulatory Secretary, Santos Cerdán.
Ismael Moreno agreed to the statements of Aldama and Koldo at the request of the Public Prosecution, after the court received the UCO report analyzing contracts between the Canary Islands and the Canary Islands. Administrative solutionsthe company at the center of the alleged conspiracy.