A trusted aide woven into the machinery of power
Koldo García, close aide to former Transport Minister Ábalos, detained alongside his wife, brother, and businessman Víctor de Aldama in Operation Delorme. Investigation alleges criminal organization, influence trafficking, and bribery related to mask contracts for Transport, Interior ministries and regional governments.
- 20 people arrested in Operation Delorme, a pandemic mask procurement fraud investigation
- At least €50 million in alleged illegal commissions from mask contracts
- Koldo García, former advisor to Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos, among those detained
- Investigation began in 2022; charges include organized crime, influence trafficking, and bribery
- Contracts involved Transport Ministry, Interior Ministry, Balearic Islands, and Canary Islands governments
Spanish authorities arrested 20 people including Koldo García, former advisor to ex-minister José Luis Ábalos, in a corruption investigation involving illegal commissions from pandemic mask purchases worth at least €50 million.
Twenty people were arrested on a February morning in what Spanish authorities are calling Operation Delorme, a sprawling investigation into illegal commissions extracted from mask purchases during the pandemic. The detentions sent a tremor through Spanish politics, centered on a man few outside government circles had heard of until now: Koldo García, who spent years as the trusted aide and former driver to José Luis Ábalos, once the country's transport minister.
García's rise had been steady and quiet. He began as Ábalos's bodyguard and driver, then became his principal advisor when Ábalos moved into the Socialist Party's organizational leadership in 2017. When Ábalos took over the Transport Ministry in 2018, García followed, eventually landing a seat on the board of Renfe Mercancías, the state rail freight company. He was woven into the machinery of power—a member of the Socialist Party of Navarre, active in labor unions, even a local councilman in his hometown of Huarte. The kind of figure who appears in official photographs but rarely in headlines.
The investigation, which began in 2022 after a complaint from Madrid's opposition party, alleges that García and his network systematized the extraction of commissions from mask contracts during the pandemic's desperate early months. The alleged scheme involved at least fifty million euros flowing through various government purchases: the Transport Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and the regional governments of the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands all appear in the investigation's scope. Prosecutors are treating this as organized crime, with charges of influence peddling, bribery, and money laundering.
Of the twenty arrested, only four names have been publicly disclosed. Beyond García, there is his wife Patricia Úriz, who was appointed to a secretarial position in the Transport Ministry during her husband's tenure there and held leadership roles in the Socialist Party of Navarre. His brother Joseba García, a former union official in the Basque Country, was also detained. The fourth is Víctor de Aldama, a Madrid businessman and lawyer who owns the Zamora soccer club and holds stakes in various sports ventures. Aldama had been granted an honorary consulship for Georgia in Zamora in 2021—curious enough that the stadium itself appeared in Foreign Ministry documents as the consulate's address—and was later presented as Spain's honorary consul in Oaxaca during an official trip to Mexico that Ábalos attended, though his appointment was never formally registered as required.
The remaining sixteen detainees remain unnamed, though authorities have confirmed that no sitting public officials appear among the arrested. Five of them, including García and Aldama, were brought before Judge Ismael Moreno of the National Court on Thursday for formal questioning. The other fifteen, including Patricia Úriz, were released after questioning by the Civil Guard.
The investigation's scope extends beyond the four known names. Authorities conducted twenty-six searches across multiple provinces, suggesting a network with geographic reach. The charges—criminal organization, influence trafficking, bribery—indicate prosecutors believe this was not opportunistic corruption but a structured operation, people working in concert to funnel commissions from pandemic contracts into private hands. García's proximity to Ábalos, his access to ministerial processes, his placement on state company boards, all appear to have been instrumental to the scheme's operation.
What remains unclear is how deep the investigation will reach. Ábalos himself has not been charged, though his name appears throughout the case as the minister whose office and trust García occupied. The investigation began two years ago but only now has produced arrests, suggesting authorities have spent considerable time building their case. As the five detainees face their judicial hearing, the full scope of who else may be implicated, and how far up the chain of command the investigation might eventually reach, remains to be seen.
Citas Notables
Authorities confirmed no sitting public officials appear among the arrested, though the investigation centers on figures who held positions of trust within government.— Spanish authorities statement
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does a driver and advisor matter enough to make national news?
Because he wasn't just anyone's driver. He was the trusted aide to a transport minister, which meant access to contracts, procurement decisions, the machinery of government spending during a crisis when masks were scarce and expensive.
So the scheme was about mask purchases specifically?
Yes, but not just one ministry. Transport, Interior, and two regional governments all bought masks through contracts where these people allegedly took cuts. Fifty million euros across all of it.
How does a driver end up in position to do that?
He became an advisor, then got appointed to the board of a state rail company. He was trusted, he was close to power, and apparently he used that proximity to direct contracts toward suppliers who would pay commissions.
Was the minister himself involved?
That's the question no one can answer yet. Ábalos hasn't been charged, but his name is everywhere in the investigation. His advisor, his wife, his trusted circle—all arrested. Whether he knew what was happening is what the courts will have to determine.
Why did it take two years to make arrests?
Building a case like this takes time. You need documents, bank records, witness statements. They did twenty-six searches across multiple provinces. That's methodical work, not a quick operation.
What happens to the others whose names we don't know?
That's the real story still unfolding. Sixteen people arrested whose identities haven't been released. Some were let go, some face court hearings. The investigation could expand significantly depending on what they find.