The PP spokesperson in the Senate, Alicia García, announced in a press conference on Wednesday that she will summon for the fourth time the Minister of Territorial Policies and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, to testify before the commission of inquiry into the Koldo case. “He who lies, repeats”, claimed the spokesperson, explaining that this new appointment is due to the information revealed by the latest report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard.
The document refers to a possible meeting between Torres and Víctor de Aldama, the businessman and commissioner of the conspiracy, to speed up the payment of a purchase of masks in the worst phase of the pandemic. At that time, the minister was president of the Canary Islands. The popular senator was forceful: “He lied to the commission of inquiry when he said that neither he nor any of his team had ordered the involvement in the plot, but the UCO denies this,” he ruled.
In his third Senate statement last March, Torres denied having “personal relationships” with Aldama in connection with the corruption plot, but the UCO report found several messages on the seized cell phones The Koldo case which suggests that he might have met the businessman. The report states that Aldama sent Torres a message on July 16, 2020 in which he introduced himself: “Good afternoon Ángel Víctor. I’m Víctor from Air Europa. We were there for a moment yesterday afternoon,” he wrote. There is no indication from the investigation that Torres responded to him.
Nonetheless, the agents interpret in the report that, in this alleged meeting which took place the day before the messages, they could have faced the delay in payment for the masks that Aldama’s company had sold to the Canary Islands. The popular spokesperson stressed that this contrasts with the explanation given by the minister in the Upper House inquiry commission, and that, therefore, he will have to “give explanations” on the content of this meeting. “We know that he had dinner with him. When you favor the companies of the conspiracy, you are a member of the conspiracy,” he said.
Torres denies it
Last Tuesday the minister called a press conference to clarify the information revealed by the Guardia Civil report, a few hours after its publication. Torres assured the media that he had received the document with “satisfaction” and again denied his connection to the plot. He defended that he had “no relationship with that person” but did not deny that there had been a meeting. In that appearance, Torres also stressed that the UCO is not asking the judge to open an investigation against him. And he announced that he will sue Aldama for interference with his honour, privacy and image because “the damage is irreparable”. The popular spokesperson assured that Torres’ defense against the UCO report is that of a “compulsive liar” and that they will also include the head of the Contracting and General Affairs Service of the Canary Islands Health, Salomé Ballesteros, in the list of cronies.
More quotes
This Thursday the popular spokesperson referred to the 2017 PSOE primaries in which Pedro Sánchez was elected general secretary. He announced that, in addition to the minister, they will include in the list of candidates Pedro Luis Egea, treasurer of Bancal de Rosas, a non-profit organization that managed the financing of Sánchez’s campaign for the PSOE primaries in 2017, and the former president of the organization, the current delegate of the Madrid government, Francisco Martín.
The People’s Party justified the summoning of these two people due to the lack of answers that the president of the government gave to questions about the alleged irregular financing of the primaries. “Sánchez said he didn’t remember if his father-in-law’s sauna companies had financed the primaries; since he doesn’t remember, we have to call those responsible for the accounts,” reasoned Alicia García.
The spokesperson took the opportunity to take stock of Sánchez’s statement to the Senate. In his opinion, the CEO suffered from “selective amnesia”. “He said it up to fifty times I do not know AND I don’t remember“, he stated. He did not rule out recalling the president to the commission, after recalling that the Supreme Court invited the National Tribunal to investigate the party’s cash payments to former minister Ábalos and councilor Koldo García, an investigation opened a few hours after the senator’s press conference. “He stated that the PSOE’s payment system is legal; Sooner or later you will have to answer for this statement,” warned the PP leader.
