Officers arrived at the Vallecas address expecting to search the property and detain Andrea de la Torre, the partner of former minister José Luis Ábalos. Instead, they found two US tourists who had booked the flat through Airbnb from 1 to 15 November.
The Guardia Civil’s UCO report says the visitors, a woman from New York and a man from California, had no connection to the investigation. Officers identified them and concluded the operation in about an hour without entering the property. The report described them as “terceras personas ajenas o sin relación con los hechos investigados,” meaning third parties with no connection to the events under investigation.
At the same time, other officers searched Ábalos’s home in Valencia for a second time in the investigation. De la Torre was there and was arrested. Six people were detained in the operation, including De la Torre and the Corvillo brothers, Cristian and Rubén. The UCO attributes suspected money laundering and influence peddling to the three, and also alleges that they formed a criminal organisation. These remain allegations in an investigation.
The Vallecas property is under scrutiny because of how it was paid for. According to the UCO’s reports, De la Torre bought the property and a parking space in Madrid on 19 April 2024 for €125,000. The UCO described the premises as being for industrial use. The purchase was made without a mortgage and funded through two cheques and a bank transfer. Investigators say Ábalos’s seized phone showed that he had unsuccessfully sought bank financing in the days before the purchase. He had sought about €130,000.
The UCO says Ábalos then turned to Cristian Corvillo, a PSOE member in Córdoba and alleged former driver for Pedro Sánchez during the 2017 party leadership contest. Investigators say the two met around that time, after which Corvillo arranged funding through Deplan-Works and Esperança Colossal. The companies are held in the names of alleged nominees, but the Guardia Civil considers Corvillo to control them. The report says invoices passed between the firms, and investigators suspect the transactions helped pay for the home.
A €65,000 transfer made on 12 February 2024 is a key part of the UCO’s account. Prosecutors linked the transfer, reportedly made by Portuguese company Esperança Colossal, to the property purchase. It came from a Portuguese account administered by the alleged nominee for Deplan-Works and carried the concept “préstamo,” meaning loan. On the day De la Torre received the money, Aldama and Corvillo exchanged messages that were later deleted, according to the report. Aldama replied “Ya,” translated from Spanish as “Done.” On 17 April 2024, a bank cheque for €67,298 was issued to complete the purchase. The report says the sequence links Corvillo to the channelling of funds to Ábalos. EFE reported that the UCO identified a direct connection between Corvillo and part of the money used for the acquisition.
The UCO says the evidence strengthens its suspicions of money laundering connected to alleged commissions from contracts awarded by Adif and the Directorate-General for Roads, both within the Transport Ministry. Separate reporting said investigators were also examining three contracts worth nearly €36 million in total, awarded during Ábalos’s tenure by Adif, Adif Alta Velocidad and SEITT. Messages cited in the report also show Corvillo exchanging invoices with commission agent Víctor de Aldama. Aldama’s claims about another alleged PSOE financing strand appeared in an earlier report.
Investigators also say Corvillo had contacts with Koldo García and Ábalos outside his dealings with Aldama. The report records a meeting in Córdoba on 20 April 2023 between Corvillo and the prime minister. In a conversation with Aldama, Corvillo said Óscar López, then Sánchez’s chief of staff, had arranged it and described it as “de lujo,” meaning “excellent.” Those are statements attributed to Corvillo and findings presented by the UCO, not established facts. The UCO report formed part of a separate branch of the Koldo case, and National Court investigating judge Ismael Moreno lifted secrecy over the material in November 2026. The investigation remains ongoing.
