A meeting with José Luis Ábalos was called off after heavy snow delayed the drive, according to footage and messages obtained by Informativos Telecinco. The report identifies the driver as Cristian Corvillo, who drove for Pedro Sánchez during the 2017 PSOE primaries. The Guardia Civil first identified Corvillo’s links to businessman Víctor de Aldama and Ábalos’s circle in February 2024.
The footage dates to January 2021, on the first day of the Filomena snowfall. Corvillo was driving to visit a company with Aldama when Aldama asked when he would arrive. Corvillo said he had described Aldama as his business partner to the people they were due to meet. Messages reported by Telecinco indicate Ábalos was also expected. As snow held up the journey, Aldama told Corvillo to give him an arrival estimate because the minister was leaving. They arrived too late, and the meeting was cancelled.
Corvillo later denied to the Audiencia Nacional, where he appeared as a witness in September 2026 before judge Santiago Pedraz, that he had arranged a meeting with Aldama or ever met him with Ábalos. He acknowledged meeting Ábalos on party business and said he had occasionally driven during Sánchez’s primary campaign. Corvillo also acknowledged his relationship with Aldama but said proposed business ventures had never come to fruition.
Investigators have examined Corvillo’s links with Aldama and the brothers’ company connections. His brother Rubén, who was also detained, has also come under scrutiny. A Guardia Civil report from October 2024 reportedly described Cristian Corvillo as acting “a las órdenes” of Aldama in negotiations over a chalet in La Alcaidesa, Cádiz, valued at more than €500,000 and allegedly intended for Ábalos. According to reporting on the UCO’s findings, on 24 January 2021 Aldama sent Corvillo an advertisement for the property, and Corvillo approved it. The inquiry has treated the brothers’ business structures as a possible channel for alleged commissions linked to public-contract manipulation.
Investigators suspect Corvillo and his brother used companies to channel alleged kickbacks linked to suspected manipulation of public contracts. The inquiry has also examined data extracted from devices seized from Koldo García and Aldama, including Corvillo’s contacts and travel in Andalucía. The wider Koldo case has also seen Pedro Sánchez deny links to six people arrested, as detailed in an earlier account.
On 5 November 2026, the UCO carried out a new operation ordered by the Audiencia Nacional, including searches at Adif Alta Velocidad’s headquarters for contract files and at Ábalos’s residence in Valencia. Six people, including Corvillo and Andrea de la Torre, were detained; reports published between 5 and 7 November said all six were subsequently released. The inquiry concerns alleged kickbacks connected with Adif contracts and related business activity.
The UCO also suspects that de la Torre, Ábalos’s partner, was used to launder alleged illegal commissions. She bought a flat and garage space in Madrid for €125,000, paying by cheque without a mortgage, according to reporting on the investigation. Investigators say her declared income did not explain the payment. The purchase followed Ábalos asking Koldo to arrange a €130,000 loan for her.
