The Koldo case has exploded into one of Spain’s most damaging corruption scandals in years.
It’s a toxic cocktail of pandemic profiteering, political cronyism, and now, lurid details involving prostitutes, hidden pen drives and backroom deals.
It has already brought down multiple politicians, and now Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is holding emergency talks in his ‘bunker’ at La Moncloa, as he decides how to tackle it.
Here’s what you need to know…
Who is Koldo Garcia?
At the center of the storm is Koldo Garcia Izaguirre, a former brothel bouncer turned political fixer who somehow climbed the Socialist Party ladder to become a senior advisor to then-Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos, a close ally of PM Sanchez.
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Once considered a minor apparatchik, Garcia is now the face of a corruption scheme that prosecutors say ran deep into the heart of Spain’s pandemic response infrastructure.
What is he accused of?
According to investigators, Garcia helped orchestrate a multimillion-euro kickback operation during the Covid-19 crisis.
He is accused of pushing through inflated contracts for medical equipment, especially face masks, via shell companies with little to no experience in procurement.
The contracts, worth €54 million, were allegedly awarded in exchange for commissions, with public funds flowing through government departments under Abalos’s control.
And it appears he recorded potentially thousands of conversations and kept a record of almost all of the shady dealings, which were saved on dozens of pen drives, which have been seized by police and are still being analysed.
As more and more evidence is found on said pen drives, more people are expected to be implicated. On June 10, one sex worker was found trying to smuggle a pen drive out of the home of Abalos while it was being raided by cops.
Pen drives and prostitutes
If the money trail wasn’t scandalous enough, the case took a darker turn with revelations from Guardia CIvil wiretaps and witness statements.
- Pen drives, allegedly containing financial records and sensitive communications, were discovered in obscure locations, including one reportedly hidden inside a microwave.
- Investigators also uncovered expenses tied to escort services, including reports that proceeds from the contracts were used to fund nights with prostitutes and luxury outings, involving some of the accused.
One intercepted message even referenced the need to keep ‘the girls happy,’ while another revealed panic over one of the drives potentially falling into the wrong hands.
These details have shifted the case from a bureaucratic scandal to something far more salacious – and potentially explosive for the Sanchez government.
How far does it go?
Several businessmen, former civil servants, and political staffers have been detained or questioned. The scandal has ensnared multiple regions, from Madrid to the Balearics, and is now circling dangerously close to the upper echelons of the PSOE.
Though Sanchez has denied any foreknowledge, pressure is mounting. Abalos, now sitting as an independent MP, has refused to give up his seat – widely seen as a tactical move to maintain leverage, should the party turn on him fully.
What’s the political fallout?
The opposition has seized on the case to hammer the government. The People’s Party (PP) and Vox are calling for a full parliamentary inquiry, accusing Sanchez of presiding over a ‘mafia-style network’ within the state.
Even within the PSOE, tensions are simmering. Recent leaks suggest Santos Cerdán, the former party organisation secretary, may also be linked to related schemes, compounding the crisis.
Cerdan exposed
Cerdán, until recently one of the most powerful figures in Spain’s ruling Socialist Party (PSOE), was today formally indicted by the Supreme Court.
On June 20, Judge Leopoldo Puente officially summoned Cerdan to testify on June 30, following his resignation as an MP, which stripped him of parliamentary immunity. The charges hanging over him include bribery and membership in a criminal organisation.
At the heart of the case is Cerdan’s suspected role in facilitating or benefiting from a series of public contracts allegedly rigged in favor of companies connected to Koldo Garcia.
Investigators are now combing through a decade’s worth of emails, financial and property records tied to Cerdan, though PSOE party and foundation assets are reportedly exempt from the search – for now.
Prosecutors believe that Cerdan had a hand in managing at least €620,000 in kickbacks, largely stemming from rigged infrastructure and public works contracts awarded to major players like Acciona.
These deals often passed through intermediaries such as Servinabar 2000 SL, a Navarra-based firm in which Cerdan allegedly held a 45% stake.
One of the largest contracts involved maintenance of the Belate tunnel, a lucrative project awarded in partnership with Acciona. Documents obtained by the UCO suggest that Servinabar and affiliated cooperatives may have been used as vehicles to launder bribes under the guise of legal work.
According to reports, audio recordings from encrypted pen drives and WhatsApp logs intercepted by the UCO reference direct conversations between Cerdan, Abalos, and Garcia. In one explosive transcript, a contact mentions dropping off a €15,000 bribe at a bar near PSOE headquarters on Ferraz Street.
Other messages appear to detail the deliberate manipulation of PSOE’s 2014 internal primaries, raising questions about whether the rot runs even deeper than financial corruption.
