Koldo García, portrait of the life of an assistant
“So many ministers and so many...” (You can add any word you want, but you can imagine that the author of the phrase was very rude).
This is one of the many messages Koldo García received on one of the cell phones seized by the Civil Guard, the content of which has been handed over to the parties in this case. The message, sent on June 13, 2018, when Pedro Sánchez won the vote of no confidence that ousted Mariano Rajoy from the Moncloa Palace, describes the rise to the heavens of a rather ordinary man who had initially been hired as a chauffeur for the PSOE's organizational secretary and later for the Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos.
Koldo García to Ábalos: “I have already achieved my goal in life, both professionally and personally.”In numerous messages, old friends reproach him for having changed his life and for now, for example, being able to drive at full speed in his car: "You don't get tickets anymore."
And indeed, the change is astonishing, because in just a few years, Koldo can sit in the minister's office and tell him in minute detail which projects should be awarded to which companies, which officials comply with his orders and which don't, and what business opportunities—and commissions, of course—there are, for example, with a Venezuelan oil company controlled by the United States.
Read also A Civil Guard officer to Koldo García: "You don't love me anymore, you've traded me for your friends." Carlota Guindal
The leap this character takes is colossal. Going from receiving a loud message from someone demanding someone be sent to fix "the f... shower screen" to deciding which contractors should be awarded projects worth hundreds of millions is colossal.
However, one thing hasn't changed over the more than seven years of messages recorded on Koldo García's various devices: money. Day in and day out, he receives messages from acquaintances who owe him money or demand money, demand bills, or ask for work. The "see if you can find me something" is a classic, and it seems Koldo delivers, because there are also messages of gratitude.
With delusions of power and hardened in the underworldThe picture that can be gathered from listening to more than 20,000 audio recordings sent and received over more than a decade reveals a man with a sense of power and a proven track record in the underworld. Hence, back in 2013, he bought a tape recorder and sent two young men to spy on members of the PSOE (Socialist Workers' Party) in Navarre, amidst the ongoing internal conflicts.
He knew who to approach to reach the top. "I've already achieved my goal in life, professionally and personally," he admitted to José Luis Ábalos in an audio recording in which he lamented that his then-wife had taken a stand against him. As the minister's advisor, he also managed certain aspects of his marriage and curbed Ábalos's wife's anger when he didn't return to Valencia on the agreed-upon days. It was the minister's business. Although in parallel, García sought out personal entertainment: "Whoever you want. Or Ariatna and Carlota, fuck you," in addition to arranging meetings with other couples.
The analysis of García's phone also reveals the hectic life she led since arriving in Madrid, traveling from one place to another. She had to juggle all her professional activities, which ranged from reminding the minister to take care of some of his senior officials to requesting formalities from the Prime Minister, with her personal activities. And all of this was handled in a sometimes shocking tone: "Don't get angry, I don't want any trouble, but you're all sluts."
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