The Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard maintains that Cristian Corvillo, recently arrested for rigging public contracts and collecting commissions, had "direct dialogue" with Pedro Sánchez. This is revealed by the intercepted messages to Corvillo, who was the driver of the general secretary of the PSOE, and adds that he had "knowledge of the matters related to José Luis Ábalos." This is stated in the latest report presented by the Judicial Police, to which EL MUNDO has had access.
Thus, on April 19, 2023, Corvillo informed businessman Víctor de Aldama: "Tomorrow the president is coming to Córdoba and I have a private meeting with him, Óscar López called me." "As can be seen from this message," the UCO states, "the president would travel to Córdoba the next day and hold a private meeting with him."
After the meeting, and according to the intercepted communications, Corvillo explained to Aldama that he "valued her very positively" by pointing out that "it had gone very well." Likewise, he specified "that the reason for the meeting had been to talk about the 'boss'", in reference to the former Minister of Transportation, José Luis Ábalos, now convicted. The agents certify that Corvillo wrote to Víctor de Aldama that the meeting with Sánchez had been arranged through the then director of the Presidential Cabinet, Óscar López.
The UCO continues in its report: "The next day, coinciding with the scheduled date for the meeting, Corvillo told Aldama how the meeting had gone, evaluating it very positively by pointing out that it had gone 'luxurious'. Likewise, he specified that the reason for the meeting had been to talk about the 'boss', a term used to refer to Ábalos," the agents say.
And they certify: "Next, there was an exchange of messages that allows us to verify that the meeting would have taken place with Pedro Sánchez, without the presence of third parties, and that it would have lasted for approximately 35 minutes."
President Sánchez strictly denied last week, following the arrest of the socialist militant Cristian Corvillo and his accusation of having channeled bites, that he knew him at all. "None of these people have anything to do with me," Sánchez said.
The UCO has intercepted messages and reproduces the following conversation between Cristian and Víctor de Aldama on April 20, 2023. In it, Corvillo explains to Aldama that the initiative to hold the meeting with Sánchez came from Óscar López. And he added that Sánchez told him about "his wife and the cake he made for her birthday." "Well, what do I know, everything is strange," Corvillo added to Aldama. The literal meaning of the message exchange is as follows:
- Corvillo: With the president of luxury, luxury. Conversation logically to talk about the boss, everything perfect [in reference to Ábalos].
- Aldama: And what is this? [asking about previous message]
- C: Pedro Sánchez.
- A: I don't understand.
- C: Yesterday I told you that today I saw Pedro Sánchez in Córdoba. We have been alone for about 35 minutes. I told you yesterday.
- A: Yes, it's true.
- C: That Óscar López had called me to see if I could be with him for a while.
- A: Well then?
- C: Too good for my taste. Talking to me about my wife [Cristian had driven for Sánchez for six years, in the 2017 primaries, and some sources claim that he even slept and had lunch at his house, in Córdoba].
- A: Damn.
- C: About the cake he made for her birthday. In the end. What do I know? Everything is strange. What if with the boss issue he was hasty. He gave me to understand that he was deceived.
Just three months after that conversation, Sánchez, who had dismissed Ábalos as Minister of Transport and as Secretary General of the PSOE, recovered him for the 2023 elections, placing him as number 2 on the list for Valencia.
In any case, what the group would seek, according to the investigation, was to recover Ábalos' predicament within the PSOE and the Government.
Corvillo's role
Likewise, the UCO explains that Corvillo maintained a close relationship with Koldo García and that this "developed in different areas." "On the one hand, an institutional level, derived from his status as advisor to the Minister of Development and his ability to carry out procedures before bodies dependent on that ministry, especially in relation to public works contracting files." "On the other hand," adds the police report, "a political level, linked to the personal and trusting relationship that Koldo maintained with Ábalos, at that time Secretary of Organization of the PSOE."
The relationship between the two extended years later to Ábalos, with the UCO detecting contacts between Sánchez's former driver and the former minister himself facilitated by Koldo. As an example of the degree of closeness that Corvillo reached with Ábalos, the Civil Guard highlights messages in which the socialist from Cordoba offered to get him a dog.
Thanks to this privileged relationship, Corvillo "would have used it to influence tenders called by organizations dependent on the Ministry of Transport, in particular by Adif and the State Transport Infrastructure Society." In such a way that the intercepted messages reveal that Cristian Corvillo "showed interest in certain companies being awarded contracts." And the UCO adds that "the preference for addressing these issues in face-to-face meetings reflects the sensitivity of the issues discussed."
Corvillo was arrested last week by the UCO and his home was searched by order of the judge of the National Court, Ismael Moreno. In the police report, the Civil Guard highlights the intermediary role of Sánchez's former driver in the 2017 Socialist Party primaries between Aldama and the former Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos.
"Corvillo would have simultaneously facilitated the delivery of cash from Aldama to the former minister, which reinforces the hypothesis of his role as an intermediary between the two," concludes the UCO after analyzing his telephone messages with Aldama and Koldo García. In the aforementioned messages they referred to cash as "photocopies" and "pens."
