Koldo García, former aide to José Luis Ábalos, testified on Thursday before Spain's Supreme Court in the Mascarillas case trial. He admitted receiving 500-euro bills, dubbed 'chistorras', from the PSOE for expense reimbursements. He denied payments from Víctor de Aldama and defended Ábalos.
Koldo García Izaguirre, known as 'don Koldo', testified for eight hours before the seven Supreme Court magistrates in the trial over alleged corruption in pandemic mask contracts. The former Transport Ministry aide, without a suit and with a beard, portrayed himself as a security forces collaborator against ETA and jihadism, denying any corruption. "Yo lo que hacía era rellenar la agenda del señor ministro," he said of his role with Ábalos.
Clashing with prosecutor Alejandro Luzón, whom he accused of "no buscar mi inocencia" and smiling at him, Koldo denied receiving 10,000 euros monthly from Víctor de Aldama since 2019. He first admitted the PSOE paid him expenses with 'chistorras' of 500 euros, sometimes real sausages and others bills, deposited legally, contradicting the party's ex-manager who denied it. The PSOE responded that it "never" delivered 500-euro bills and that "cada euro está controlado y verificado".
Protecting Ábalos, he described payments for Jésica Rodríguez's rent, introduced by Aldama, because she pressured to reveal their extramarital relationship. He explained his assets with 325,000 euros earned at the Ministry (2019-2022), a 62,000-euro indemnity for a wild boar accident, and mortgages for Benidorm flats. Ábalos, visibly devastated, did not testify at day's end. The trial resumes Monday with his interrogation.
