The main business attributed to him case of hydrocarbons, the operator Villafuel, Santiago Pedraz asked the head of Juzgado de Instrucción nº 5 de la Audiencia Nacional to call me to testify with the former chiefs of staff of former ministers Reyes Maroto and Teresa Ribera to clarify what was the role of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Ecological Transition respectively, in granting the title of fuel operator to the company. The investigation highlights that the director of the commission Víctor de Aldama and his associate Claudio Rivas, in provisional prison for these years, are in the process of rejecting the activity of this trader who is in the spotlight due to fraud at the Hacienda worth more than 231 million euros between 2021 and 2024. The Fiscalía Anticorruption warns that “new accusations” may be produced.
The summary of hydrocarbon case reveals a supposed “plan” developed by Aldama and Rivas to acquire this operator and build a structure that allows greater operational autonomy with fuel. “It is clear from the investigation carried out that, with the aim of streamlining the management necessary for him” – indicates the Unidad Central Operativa (UCO) of the Civil Guard – he used Aldama’s contacts by contacting the ministerial exassor Koldo García on his behalf. As such, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Industry in December 2020.
In several writings presented this month, Villafuel’s defense wanted to distance itself from the possible consequences of the granting of the permit. As it is weak, the “good visa” in the operator’s file which was issued from the administration because the UCO considers that the company does not have “the appropriate and legal financial resources to obtain the title of operator”, the company complains that Marc Isaac Pons, former director of the then vice-president, Teresa Ribera, should be cited as testimony if I intervened. process of obtaining a license by Villafuel de Dicha to operate abroad with fuels and petroleum fuels.
In addition, I request that the current chief of staff of the Ministry of Industry, Juan Ignacio Díaz Bidart, be heard, who is the person who allegedly received Claudio Rivas and the businesswoman Carmen Pano — who says she delivered 90,000 euros on Aldama’s orders to the PSOE headquarters in Ferraz — through Koldo García. “In order to clarify whether there was institutional mediation or a simple administrative procedure, that is to say if the intervention followed a simple formal management of the office”, responds the writing sent to EL PAÍS. Díaz Bidart declared before the Supreme Court and confirmed that the meeting took place, but insisted that his ministry was not competent to grant this type of licenses.
Villafuel also requires mention of the technicians who were hired by the company to supervise the procedure and who participated in the scheduled meeting. The trader’s defense intends to contradict the statements of the armed institute according to which he does not respect the financial resources required by the Ministry and by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de la Competencia (CNMC) and, therefore, also requests that the judge asks the Hacienda the procedure by which Villafuel obtained the authorization and registration in the Registry of Tax Deposits of Extractors and that the employees of the Hacienda who are treated and approved are identified.
As evidenced by the current administrator of Villafuel and CEO of the company since September 2021, María Luisa Rivas (sister of Claudio Rivas), intends to resign from the management of Koldo for the plot probably led by Aldama and Rivas. It seeks to demonstrate that management in the future has a real influence and that the hydrocarbon operator authorization was finalized in September 2022 by the administrative offices provided for by law.
Anti-corruption fight warns against wrong accusations
Judge Santiago Pedraz extended the trial until June 2026 following a report from the anti-corruption tax which says this is necessary because there are still steps to be taken. “There is no doubt that the analysis and study of all the documentation involved in the entry and registration procedures becomes very laborious and requires great dedication, being of unquestionable importance for the investigation of the hechos subject of these present actions, whose course will be determined very surely, as indicated by new practice, diligence and, even, new accusations”, reflects Inspector Luis Pastor.
In his writing, he explains that all the documents on which the Unidad Central Operativa (UCO) of the Civil Guard intervened during the arrest of Aldama, Rivas and Carmen Pano, among others, between October and December 2024, are still being analyzed. In addition, European investigation orders have been issued with requests for documents from countries such as Portugal, which are still awaiting analysis and the tax administration has been asked to quantify more precisely to what extent it believes it could be fraud.
The UCO, in fact, has just presented a report, confirming the sources of the cause, with new conclusions on the messages which intervened there. Koldo affair. The two investigations converge on the character of Aldama, who was at the origin of the management of hydrocarbons and, in turn, the one who allegedly paid 10,000 euros per month to Koldo García to obtain a preferential agreement with the government. So, for example, Aldama had presumptuously ordered the family of Carmen Pano, owner of the company Have Got Time SL, to acquire a chalet in the urbanization of La Alcaidesa (Cádiz) so that the former Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos could spend a vacation there in 2021.
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