Businessman Víctor de Aldama, one of the main suspects in the Koldo case regarding the purchase of sanitary material during the pandemic, has exercised his right not to testify during his appearance in the investigative committee of the Balearic Parliament that is looking into the acquisition of 1.5 million masks from the company Soluciones de Gestión by the government of the islands, then led by the socialist Francina Armengol. De Aldama repeated the phrase “I will not testify” 39 times after stating in his first answer that he would exercise his right to remain silent to the questions of the parliament members from different political groups. He only deviated from his decision not to testify after hearing a question from the PP deputy, José Luis Mateo, who thanked him for using the term “alleged” before accusing him. The silence of De Aldama did not surprise the parliamentarians, as he had also refused to testify before the judge of the National Court investigating the case. The testimony of the manager of Soluciones de Gestión, Íñigo Rotaeche, which was scheduled for this Monday, has been postponed to next week.
After the businessman’s testimony, Antoni Mascaró, the former deputy director of procurement at the Balearic Health Service, responsible for the purchase of the sanitary material during the pandemic, took the stand and emphasized that the masks were purchased for civilian use and essential workers, and became part of an emergency stock. The Balearic Government paid 3.7 million euros for face masks that turned out to have a lower level of protection than contracted. The government of Armengol, current President of the Congress of Deputies, initiated the process of claiming the price difference, a process that the current PP government has allowed to lapse, arguing that it intends to recover the full amount. “These masks were intended for the civilian population and essential workers outside the healthcare sector, that’s why we approved the purchase of material from Soluciones de Gestión,” Mascaró said, emphasizing that the one and a half million units were coded in this way by the Health Service.
Both the Vox deputy, Patricia de las Heras, and the PP deputy, José Luis Mateo, criticized Mascaró for the fact that the masks ended up unused, stored in a warehouse. The official admitted that it was his decision to store them as part of an emergency stockpile and ordered that the masks not be destroyed until the claims process was completed. He also rejected the criticisms of both parties, who condemned his department for issuing a suitability certificate to Soluciones de Gestión. “It is a standard document, we sign a hundred of these documents in a year, they are very common. This certificate has been issued in the same way for the past 12 years,” he said.
Regarding the delay in claiming, raised by the PP and Vox against the previous government, Mascaró explained that the claim was made “when possible” and that, in any case, it was submitted within the legal timeframe. The former deputy director of procurement emphasized that the main priority at that time was to have enough material and that his department also handled the coordination of vaccinations and the purchase of equipment. “After all this, the claim proposal was made,” he said.
