Investigators searched a home in Córdoba during the UCO’s operation in a new, confidential branch of the Koldo case. The coordinated operation on 5 November involved searches in Valencia and Madrid, as well as Córdoba and Seville, and six people were detained for questioning on orders from the National Court.
Investigating judge Ismael Moreno is directing the proceedings, with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office taking part. The inquiry reportedly concerns suspected manipulation of public-works and railway-infrastructure contracts awarded while José Luis Ábalos was transport minister. That extends the case beyond its original pandemic-mask procurement allegations. Investigators also requested information from ADIF, Spain’s state-owned rail-infrastructure administrator.
At a press conference after the XXX Cumbre Iberoamericana in Madrid, Pedro Sánchez said he had no connection with those detained and had not been briefed on the investigation’s details. He described it as a case the courts had been investigating for years. The government, he said, had cooperated with the justice system from the outset.
One of the detainees is Cristian Abel Corvillo Aguilar. Sources familiar with the investigation said he had acted as Sánchez’s driver during the 2017 PSOE leadership primaries, which Sánchez won against Susana Díaz. The PP has identified Corvillo as Sánchez’s driver during the primaries. PSOE sources dispute that account: they say Corvillo has never been the president’s driver and that Sánchez had no driver during the primaries. Party members, they added, sometimes volunteer to provide transport.
Other reported detainees included Andrea de la Torre, Ábalos’s partner, and Cristian Corvillo’s brother, Rubén. Three businesspeople were also detained. De la Torre was arrested at the Valencia home associated with Ábalos. The arrests form part of the wider Koldo investigation; an earlier UCO report covered an operation involving six detainees and a search of José Luis Ábalos’s home.
The operation also involved copying Koldo García’s mobile phone and collecting other material under a judicial order. Searches and the collection and examination of material continued after the six detainees were released following questioning on 5 November. Their release did not bring the investigation to a close.
Sánchez also called on PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo to address allegations that Koldo García was offered one million euros to implicate the prime minister or people around him. Government sources said the PSOE was considering legal action over audio recordings linked to the claims. Sánchez said the government had maintained “total collaboration with Justice” from the beginning.
In the recordings, Koldo says he met PP lawyer Alberto Durán twice in May 2025. According to Koldo’s account, Durán proposed covering his legal defence and securing a reduced sentence that could keep him out of prison. Koldo also said the proposed arrangement would leave his family outside the proceedings.
In return, Koldo says he was asked to make statements against Sánchez and his wife, Begoña Gómez. He also named former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, along with other people linked to the Spanish government, saying the statements could be false. These are allegations in Koldo’s account; the supplied material does not establish that a payment was made.
PSOE secretary of organisation and spokesperson Rebeca Torró called the account extremely serious in a post on X. She said that, if confirmed, it would mean the PP had tried to buy an accused person’s testimony to bring down a legitimate government.
Sánchez also defended Óscar Puente’s resignation as transport minister on grounds of political responsibility after the rail accident in Urda. He said Puente had been with victims from the outset and answered questions. Puente also opened an investigation. Sánchez said the government needed to review how Spain could avoid two accidents of that scale.
First deputy prime minister and Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo is to take charge of the Transport portfolio until the general election scheduled for 29 November, according to Sánchez.
