The Koldo Corruption Scandal and the Controversial Appointments of Pedro Sánchez's Government

The political situation in Spain is rapidly intensifying under the influence of new facts in corruption investigations and the government's personnel decisions. The central point of public debate has become the testimony of a tax advisor linked to the Franky bar in Pamplona. Before the Audiencia Nacional court, the witness admitted that, on the orders of Koldo García, he issued fictitious invoices for the company Acciona. This breakthrough confession confirms reports from the UCO unit about money laundering mechanisms in the circle of former advisor to minister José Luis Ábalos. The guilty plea by a key collaborator puts the government in a difficult position, undermining its previous defense line based on marginalizing the incident's significance. Simultaneously, the cabinet of Pedro Sánchez has sparked a wave of outrage with the nomination of Inés Olóndriz as chairwoman of AIReF. Olóndriz, previously a close collaborator of Finance Minister María Jesús Montero, is perceived as being too strongly linked to the party apparatus. Critics point to her previous statements, in which she suggested that in disputed situations, the ministerial criterion should prevail. According to the opposition People's Party, this is another step in the systematic takeover of institutions that, by definition, should remain apolitical and sovereign vis-à-vis the executive power. Concerns expressed in the media relate to the weakening of the foundations of the rule of law, in which independent control bodies constitute a key safety valve. The AIReF institution was established in 2013 as a response to the debt crisis in the eurozone, when Spain had to prove to the European Commission that it could discipline its public spending.The third pillar of the current crisis is the controversial bailout of the airline Plus Ultra. The court has taken over the competence to examine the justification for granting this company multi-million public aid, causing tensions on the Madrid-Caracas line due to the carrier's alleged links to the Venezuelan regime. The People's Party has announced it will join this case as a subsidiary prosecutor to demand criminal liability for the decision-makers. The whole picture is completed by sharp clashes in the Senate, where the right holds a majority, using every opportunity to attack Prime Minister Sánchez through the prism of his predecessors' and current allies' activities. This situation leads to deep polarization of society, in which every court or government decision is interpreted solely through the prism of party affiliation, significantly hindering a substantive debate about the state of the nation's finances. „Ante la discrepancia debe prevalecer el criterio de la ministra” (In case of disagreement, the minister's criterion should prevail) — Inés Olóndriz Polarization in Spain has been intensifying since the constitutional crisis related to the illegal referendum in Catalonia in 2017, which permanently divided the political scene.