Koldo García's audio recordings reveal political and judicial maneuvering surrounding the PSOE.

"Nothing is true." That's what businessman and corrupt official Víctor de Aldama told former advisor Koldo García when the latter asked him about the mediation of the Prime Minister's wife in the rescue of Air Europa. This is recorded in an audio recording that the former right-hand man of former minister José Luis Ábalos kept on one of his cell phones, seized by the Civil Guard's Central Operational Unit (UCO).

Aldama, one of the main suspects in the corruption scandal investigated by the Supreme Court, denied in these audio recordings that there was pressure to force the government to approve the bailout of Air Europa, for which he served as an advisor on the operation for the company's director, Javier Hidalgo. The possible involvement of Begoña Gómez to benefit the airline and thus prevent its bankruptcy has been discussed for years. Even Judge Juan Carlos Peinado, who is investigating Sánchez's wife for the management of a master's degree at the Complutense University of Madrid, has attempted to investigate her involvement in the financial operation.

This audio is part of the 22,000 recordings that former advisor Koldo García made over eleven years.

Peinado had to stop this attempt because the Madrid Provincial Court stopped him and overstepped the scope of the investigation. Now, the government is demanding an explanation as to why the UCO, which in addition to the Ábalos case is also designated as the judicial police force in the Gómez case, has not included this exculpatory audio recording in any of its reports.

In this audio recording, Aldama explains that it's impossible for there to have been pressure when the rescue operation took several months and was scrutinized from March to November 2020, when the government finally granted the company a €240 million equity loan as well as a €235 million regular loan.

The businessman, who for a time had a close relationship with García and Ábalos himself, maintains in this recording that the transaction was closely monitored. "SEPI (State Industrial Participation Society) reviewed it down to the last detail, and hired an external auditor to ensure compliance and avoid any inaccuracies," he recalls.

"He agreed and said everything was legal. What's so strange about the operation or why was there pressure?" asks the businessman, who since his arrest has admitted to having paid commissions to former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García, among others, in exchange for contracts.

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In the audio, he also praised what the family that owns Air Europa had done: "Pepe Hidalgo has provided all his guarantees, he has provided the hotels, he has provided absolutely everything," he declared.

"Of course, there has been pressure, but there has been pressure on Minister Calviño, there has been pressure on Minister Montero, there has been pressure on Minister Ábalos, there has been pressure on everyone, because, as has been said, it's a strategic company, and if the loan wasn't granted, the company would close and 50,000 people would be out on the street," De Aldama told him.

This audio is part of the nearly 22,000 files that have been analyzed by investigators of the Cerdán-Ábalos-Koldo plot, and to which La Vanguardia has had access. García, who had a meteoric rise from chauffeur to advisor to the Minister of Transport and director of Renfe, was recording from June 2013 until early 2024, when he was arrested, all of his conversations with people from the party, businessmen, and even personal conversations. The UCO extracted several of these conversations as a basis to charge the then Secretary of Organization of the PSOE Santos Cerdán and strengthen the evidence against Ábalos, the latter's predecessor as number three in the party.