The EU is investigating the use of NGEU funds in Spain following the rail disaster

Madrid. The Madrid office of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has opened a new investigation concerning the Spanish railways. Information is reportedly being gathered from the public body that manages the railway infrastructure (ADIF), the State Agency for Railway Safety (AESF) and the Spanish Court of Auditors. The investigation centres on alleged fraud involving Next Generation EU funds allocated for the modernisation of safety systems on the Madrid–Seville high-speed line, the scene of two recent serious disasters: on 18 January in Adamuz (Córdoba) and on 28 October in Urda (Toledo). Together, the two disasters caused hundreds of deaths and injuries, prolonged controversy and the resignations of the Minister for Transport, Óscar Puente, and the chairman of Adif. As early as March, following the first accident, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office had launched an investigation into the alleged irregular use of EU funds.

As stated on the EPPO’s own website, the decision was taken ex officio. The Spanish media point out that this is a rather ‘exceptional’ case, given that the European body usually intervenes following a complaint. What is less exceptional these days, however, is that those in charge of managing the Spanish railways find themselves with Civil Guard officers at their door.

In fact, just last Thursday, Adif’s headquarters were searched as part of the investigation into rigged railway tenders, which is just one aspect of the wider ‘Koldo case’. The name comes from Koldo García, the Basque socialist who, having started out as a nightclub bouncer, made his way up the ranks first as a bodyguard to several local politicians, before ending up in the famous Peugeot that served as his springboard to far greater things. This is the car in which, between 2016 and 2017, Pedro Sánchez travelled the length and breadth of Spain after losing the party leadership. He wanted to win the primaries again, but the entire PSOE leadership was against him; at the time, they were more inclined to let the People’s Party govern by relying on a less intransigent opposition. So Sánchez had to seek out allies who were not exactly A-list figures: Koldo, the bouncer, for one, or Santos Cerdán, the former deputy mayor of a small village in Navarre. And then there was José Luis Ábalos, the only one of any real standing, a Member of Parliament and the party’s regional secretary in Valencia.

The story of a group of comrades travelling by car through the heart of Spain to win back the support of the grassroots and relaunch a purer, tougher opposition to the right certainly has its charm for the cult’s followers. It sounds like the script for a ‘committed’ film and fits perfectly with the public image of an idealistic and resilient Sánchez. Less romantic is taking a closer look at what has happened in the meantime to what has been dubbed the ‘Peugeot gang’. Ábalos, the former Minister of Transport, ended up in prison alongside Koldo; both were definitively sentenced to 24 and 19 years respectively for taking bribes in connection with the purchase of medical face masks during the pandemic. They remain under investigation in other strands of the inquiry, in which Santos Cerdán is also implicated; he had, in the meantime, replaced Ábalos in the powerful post of organisational secretary of the PSOE. In addition to the suspicious contracts, his involvement in the investigation into the smear campaign orchestrated to obstruct the magistrates is causing a stir. The latest reports point to a criminal network that allegedly even attempted to co-opt drug-trafficking clans to neutralise Judge Beatriz Biedma, who was leading the investigation that resulted in the conviction of David Sánchez, Pedro’s brother.

Only the Peugeot driver had remained unscathed, until now. His name is Cristian Corvillo, and on Thursday the police searched his home in Cordoba. At the same time, in Madrid, they were searching the headquarters of Adif, the company responsible for overseeing the railway infrastructure – which, however, is falling apart and causing deaths. The final funeral will take place on 10 November in Toledo Cathedral. Sánchez will not be attending.