The President of the Government has never clearly explained the reasons that led him to dismiss José Luis Ábalos. Pedro Sánchez's faithful squire since the 2017 primaries, who intervened in the motion of censure and assumed the Transport portfolio, found himself out of the game in the summer of 2021. The reasons for that dismissal could become evident for the first time in court through a new investigator in the Koldo case, Cristian Corvillo.
This man from Córdoba, who drove for Sánchez on occasions during the party's primaries in 2017, held an alleged "alone" meeting with the president in his hometown in 2023. According to Corvillo, they spent 35 minutes together talking about Ábalos and Sánchez would have told him that perhaps he had been "hasty" in dismissing the former minister, as can be seen from the messages that Corvillo sent to Aldama hours later, intercepted by the UCO.
The publication of the WhatsApps has not led the Government to change its version of the events: the Government's spokesperson, Elma Saiz, said on Friday that the meeting with Corvillo "never took place."
The head of the Executive maintains, even today, that he was "frozen" when the Koldo case broke out, as the corruption, hooking-up and prostitution consumption of his former right-hand man were discovered. Despite his undeniable closeness to Ábalos, the president has come to define him as "a great unknown."
But Corvillo's emergence could confirm that Sánchez knew the darker side of Ábalos at least since 2021, when he decided to remove him from the Government. He could definitively clarify that the president knew of the crimes of his right hand and, instead of denouncing them, he limited himself to dismissing Ábalos to try to save his image.
The meeting with Sánchez
Corvillo's meeting with the president has come to light in a UCO report submitted to the Central Court of Instruction number 2 of the National Court. The judge in charge of the investigation of the Koldo case, Ismael Moreno, received the report and agreed last Thursday to send the UCO to carry out several searches and arrests, including that of Cristian Corvillo, who was released that same day.
The police report implicates Corvillo in rigging public contracts promoted by Koldo García, as well as in the payment of a property for Ábalos's partner, Andrea de la Torre, at the beginning of 2024.
But it also reveals an alleged meeting between Sánchez and Corvillo in April 2023. According to the messages, the then Chief of Staff of Moncloa and now Minister Óscar López called the man from Córdoba on April 19 of that year to announce that Sánchez was going to visit his city the next day and wanted to meet with him. Moncloa's agenda and a tweet from Pedro Sánchez show that the head of the Executive went to the Andalusian city that April 20 to visit a newly opened Army base.
Corvillo notified Víctor de Aldama on the eve of the meeting: "Tomorrow the president is coming to Córdoba and I have a private meeting with him. Óscar López called me." On the afternoon of the next day, the man from Córdoba told the commission agent that the appointment had gone "luxury luxury."
He also explained that "logically" the conversation with Sánchez had revolved around Ábalos, whom Corvillo, Koldo García and Aldama called "the boss." This is how he recounted the meeting to Aldama: "Too good for my taste. Talking to me about my wife. About the cake he made for her birthday. Well, what do I know, everything is strange. He was hasty with the boss issue. He gave me to understand that he was deceived."
One more accused in the Peugot tour
As a result of the revelations in the latest UCO report, Corvillo becomes one more piece among the defendants in the Koldo case who were part of Sánchez's team in the 2017 primaries, which led him to regain the leadership of the PSOE after being banished from the party. Sánchez's former driver is being investigated for influence peddling, bribery, money laundering and membership in a criminal organization.
His name appears on the short list of supports that Sánchez had after resigning from the General Secretariat of the PSOE, when he announced on Twitter his intention to return to his old ways against all odds: "On Monday I'll take my car to visit every corner of Spain again and listen." Sánchez had everything against him and had the support of a few. His main allies at that time saw their loyalty rewarded from now on: Ábalos occupied the general secretary of the PSOE and the Ministry of Transport, Koldo became a ministerial advisor, always working hand in hand with the "boss." Cerdán grew in the party until he replaced Ábalos in his position.
