Angel Victor Torres This Tuesday he faced the difficult task of explaining his communications with members of the Koldo plot revealed after the release of the latest UCO report.
In his appearance, filled with fallacies, half-truths and silences, the Minister of Territorial Policy has exonerated himself in a hasty and self-complacent mannerhiding behind the fact that the report does not appear “neither bites, nor apartments in Atocha, nor sexually exploited women.”
By limiting himself to denying an accusation without evidence that he launched against him Victor de AldamaTorres tries to avoid the essence of the matter. Which is what concerns his intervention as president of the Canary Islands to supervise compliance with the contract for the sale of masks, signed with the company investigated in the plot of the million-dollar contracts for medical supplies within the Ministry of Transport.
Besides, It has been proven that he lied when he claimed not to know Aldama. If you had a meeting with him in a restaurant, as documented by the audio collected in the police dossier, it cannot be said to be a chance meeting.
The information known so far is enough to demand political responsibilities from Torres.
Because the facts reflected in the report prove that Torres tried to favor what has turned out to be a criminal plot conceived in the Government of which he is now a part, and which allegedly paid and collected illegal commissions in exchange for the rigging of public contracts.
Under the Contract Law, a regional president cannot order an entity dependent on his government to pay a company just because he considers it appropriate, skipping legal procedures and trying to expedite the procedures without carrying out the verifications required by members of his government.
However, according to the report, Torres promised Koldo Garcia overcome “the resistance” of his team to pay the payment for the masks “without verifications.”
And it may be that, as the minister defends, he did not receive any compensation for these efforts.
But regardless of whether or not there was fraud, or the expectation of personal benefit, What is undeniable is that he incurred blatant favoritism by taking an interest in those payments in particular, prioritizing them over others, urging compliance with the contract with Soluciones de Gestión SL, and putting pressure on the responsible official who objected to the payment of the invoice in a rude and unacceptable tone.
It is evident that, at the very least, Torres was seeking the political patronage of the party’s Secretary of Organization at that time, through the intercession of his advisor Koldo. Which also explains the reverential treatment that was professed to abalos when I visited the Canary Islands.
The report shows that, during his time as president of the Canary Islands, he used Koldo as an intermediary to obtain help from the Government and increase his influence in the Council of Ministers.
And if Torres expedited the collection procedure from the mask company, it is because that payment was of interest to Ábalos. Not in vain, Koldo thanked the minister for his “personal involvement.”
This pressure to fulfill the contract with the commission agent Aldama’s company represents a violation of the principle of equal treatment before the Administration. Because although some of their actions could have been covered by the exceptional nature of a health emergency situation, the rest of the detailed ones cannot be justified.
Even granting that, as Torres alleges, there was no intention to act unlawfully, accountability in this case is unavoidable. Because he manifested conduct inappropriate to equity between contractors and observance of administrative procedures that every ruler must respect.
For all these reasons, without waiting for what the criminal investigation may bring, there is enough material for Ángel Víctor Torres to resign. And if he doesn’t, he should be fired.. Because the role of president is incompatible with that of achiever.