The Supreme Court judge in charge of the “Koldo case” plans to question this Monday the former director of the southern zone under investigation of Acciona Construction Spain, Manuel José García Alconchel, as part of the investigation into alleged irregularities in the works carried out in the Unión Temporal de Empresas (UTE) with Servinabar, the company linked to the former organizing secretary of the PSOE Santos Cerdán.
García Alconchel, who continues to work at the construction company but was suspended from his duties on November 18 following a report from the Guardia Civil’s Central Operational Unit (UCO), was originally scheduled to arrive on December 3 along with former directors Justo Vicente Pelegrini and Tomás Olarte. However, the instructor postponed his appearance until this Monday due to health reasons for his defense.
The judge has summoned him because of his alleged connection to the public works carried out by the construction company as part of a joint venture with Servinabar, a company at the epicenter of the alleged manipulation of land in these tenders for bribes and in which, according to the UCO, Cerdán would own 45%.
The Civil Guard drew attention in its report to the framework agreement that Acciona and Servinabar signed in 2015, a few days after the creation of Servinabar, to “explore future business opportunities” and through which the second company would receive 2%.
Vicente Pelegrini and Olarte assured in their respective statements to the investigation that the 2% received by Servinabar under this alliance was a normal amount for the professional risk prevention services to be provided by Servinabar.
However, they clarified that it is not a fixed amount, but rather a limit on the benefits that the company can derive from its joint venture with the construction giant. In addition, they insisted that the services being billed would be provided by both companies.
After hearing their versions, the judge, at the request of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, agreed to ban them from leaving the country, revoked their passports and ordered them to appear in court every fifteen days, as there was sufficient evidence that they may have committed suspected bribery offenses and involvement in a criminal organization.
Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that after García Alconchel’s appearance this Monday before the Supreme Court, the instructor will also examine whether or not to take precautionary measures.
The UCO highlights that it HAS SIGNED DOCUMENTS SIGNED by SERVINABAR
In the case of García Alconchel, the agents informed the instructor that he was acting as a signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoE) signed by Acciona and Servinabar in relation to the aforementioned awards. And they in turn pointed out that this was apparently also related to the work for the port of Kenitra (Morocco), which Acciona had chosen.
According to the report, Cerdán participated “in extremis” in an official trip by former minister José Luis Ábalos and his then adviser Koldo García in 2019 as part of a delegation from the Ministry of Transport to intervene in the matter.
The researchers calculate that Servinabar’s revenues related to Acciona amount to “at least” 6,707,294.67 euros, which represents 75% of the total revenues in the studied period of 8,903,903.18 euros.
As for the income outside Acciona, which they put at 2,196,608.51 euros – the remaining 24.67% – they indicate that it comes mainly from transfers or income from other companies and “confirm” services where it was not possible to identify the original company or project and the subscription of loans.
Regarding the outflow of funds in these ten years, the UCO estimates it at 9,701,121.96 euros and points out that the majority of the debts – 4,058,588.05 euros and 48.79% of the total – are transfers to natural and legal persons, payments of other expenses or income, bank and card transactions and other expenses, checks and commissions, above the payment of payroll (20.98%). Taxes (28.42%) and transfers to Acciona (1.80%).
La Benemérita identifies Cerdán and his family as clear beneficiaries of the alleged property, through the collection of payroll, payment of rent – until recently also for the family home in Madrid – and a credit card on which they spent more than 33,000 euros. “La Paqui, all the saleswomen at El Corte Inglés know her,” Alonso even told his wife about the former socialist leader’s wife.
Acciona Construction has refused to pay commissions to any of the persons named in the dispute, noting that the company reserves the right to take appropriate legal action if the investigations reveal direct damage to the company as a result of the actions of the persons investigated or any other person.
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