Armengol, on Aldama: "I haven't lied. I've said everything I know, everything I remembered, and everything I knew."

PalmThe Speaker of Congress and former Prime Minister of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, insisted this Tuesday in the Senate that she did not know the alleged facilitator of the Koldo plot, Víctor de Aldama, and that the meeting took place in his capacity as advisor to the former president of Air Europa, Pepe Hidalgo, in the context of the pandemic. Armengol also denied having exchanged messages with him. "I have neither lied nor withheld information," Armengol repeatedly stated in her second appearance—13 months after the first—before the Senate's commission of inquiry into all the ramifications of the Koldo case, after Vox spokesperson Ángel Pelayo accused her of lying during the initial questioning. Armengol assured the Vox senator that she will not be found involved in "any corruption scandal": "I am extremely calm." In this context, the Speaker of Congress began her speech by explaining that in her previous appearances before the various investigative committees, she had shared "everything she remembered" and "everything she knew."

She noted that when she was president of the Balearic Islands, she received more than 1,000 people in audience, "and it's impossible to remember names and surnames." For this reason, she specified that after Aldama said he had met with her, she and her secretary looked at her entire agenda from her time as president. "The only thing that makes sense is that this man, who was an advisor to Air Europa, accompanied President Pepe Hidalgo in a meeting with me," she added.

For his part, the Vox senator alluded to possible messages between Aldama and Armengol, which the Speaker of Congress denied existed and insisted that she doesn't even have Aldama's contact information.

Armengol remains "convinced" that Sánchez was unaware of Cerdán's conduct.

Armengol expressed her "convincibility" that the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, was unaware of the conduct of former Socialist Organization Secretary Santos Cerdán until the UCO report was published, and defended the PSOE leader as "firmer than anyone" against corruption.

"Do you think the Prime Minister would have defended Mr. Cerdán if he had known this? It's obvious he didn't know," Armengol proclaimed during her appearance. This questioning took place the day before Sánchez's appearance in Congress to discuss the case involving the party's former Organization Secretary.

The Speaker of Congress emphasized, in response to questions from the PP, that the Socialists "have already taken political responsibility" for removing Cerdán following the UCO report: "Something the PP has not done."

Conversations with Sánchez

The PP spokesperson for the investigative committee, Fernando Martínez-Maíllo, asked her if she had ever spoken with Sánchez about the contracting of the company linked to the Koldo scheme when she was president of the Balearic Islands. In response, Armengol asserted that she had explained to the Spanish president what she had already said publicly: "And Sánchez has peace of mind, because I have told him many times, that this did not happen in the Islands. We are not involved in any corruption scheme, we have not stolen from anyone."

Armengol insisted that her administration purchased "a single order" from the company linked to the scheme, and did so "with favorable reports from all the autonomous community's intervention bodies." Finally, Armengol also revealed that she has not spoken with Sánchez about Víctor de Aldama.