The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, defended this Thursday his management as President of the Canary Islands in the purchase of masks and said, in relation to the Koldo case, that if someone has profited, has been corrupted, "they should pay for it."
In an informative breakfast, the minister explained that, at that time, at the outbreak of the covid pandemic, when they were "desperate" among other things looking for protective material, they received proposals "from all sides" and they spoke with party colleagues, politicians, mayors and businessmen.
He has not specified, nor denied, when asked directly, if he was called by the former minister and former socialist deputy José Luis Ábalos or his advisor at the time Koldo García to recommend the company Soluciones de Gestión, investigated for the alleged corruption plot in the sale of masks, with which the Government of the Canary Islands finally contracted.
He did emphasize that that company, "which was already working with the Ministry of Transport," he recalled, was one of those that made an offer, which, as in all cases, was sent to the technical service that validated the proposals before signing the contracts.
He added that this file, also like the others, was sent to the Court of Auditors and the Court of Accounts, which did not detect "absolutely anything."
Having said that, Torres stated that "if someone has illegally benefited, has profited, they should pay for it with all the force of the law" and, for his part, he has been willing to be asked "wherever they want, however they want and about whatever they want," in relation to the possible parliamentary committees of investigation on this matter.
Asked about Ábalos' decision not to leave his seat as a deputy and move to the Mixed group of Congress, Torres said that the PSOE is "undisputedly" the "most democratic" party in Spain and if its leadership asks a member to leave a responsibility, "it must be done, logically," and he would have done it.
He has also admitted that in his party they have experienced a "tear" with this situation, as the host of the meeting suggested, or a "pain," as he himself has defined it, since Ábalos is a colleague "with a very long career both in Congress and in the organization itself."
In this same answer he said that the Secretary General of the PSOE and President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, "has an absolutely unblemished service record" and "is very demanding."
The head of Territorial Policy made these statements in the presence, among others, of the Third Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera; the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas; and the Secretary General of UGT, Pepe Álvarez.
