Former Miss Asturias Denies Influence Peddling in Testimony at Ábalos Corruption Trial

The trial of former Spanish Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos, his former advisor Koldo García, and businessman Víctor de Aldama continued at the Supreme Court in Madrid on April 8, 2026, with testimony from Claudia Montes, the former Miss Asturias 2017 and PSOE activist who was hired at the public railway company Logirail in late 2019. Montes told the court that Ábalos, whom she described as a friend and party colleague, sent her job vacancy links after she confided in him that she was a single mother without work. She maintained throughout her testimony that she never received explicit confirmation that Ábalos had intervened on her behalf to secure her the position. The session marked the second day of proceedings in what Spanish media have dubbed the mask case, which centers on corruption allegations against Ábalos and his inner circle.

Montes says Ábalos never admitted pulling strings Montes told the court she met Ábalos in May 2019 at a PSOE rally in Gijón, Asturias, and that the two developed what she called a relationship of "friendship and, later, a somewhat virtual relationship" conducted through messages and calls. She said she informed him of her unemployment as she would tell any friend, and that he responded by sending her links to vacancies at Logirail on InfoJobs. She applied for a manager position, went through two interviews — one by telephone and one in person — and was ultimately hired. Montes insisted her hiring was legitimate, arguing she had six years of prior management experience and was taken on because she was "suitable for the position." She acknowledged that Koldo García contacted her for her curriculum vitae and presented himself from the outset as her boss, telling her he was a director of Renfe. Despite suspecting that something had happened behind the scenes, she was categorical on one point. „I cannot admit to something because they did not tell me so at any time. Ábalos never told me 'hey, I have plugged you in'” — Claudia Montes via Europa Press

Former director says she was absent, then was dismissed himself The testimony of Montes was directly contradicted by José Ángel Méndez, the former managing director of Logirail, who told the court that Montes failed to show up for work for more than eight consecutive days shortly after joining the company. Méndez stated he initiated a disciplinary file against her, noting that under the applicable labor agreement, an eight-day absence constitutes a serious offense punishable by dismissal. Before that process could conclude, however, Méndez himself was dismissed without being given a reason. His successor, Óscar Gómez Barbero, offered a more favorable account of Montes's performance, confirming that he subsequently promoted her to supervisor. Gómez Barbero also acknowledged that her initial workplace conditions were inadequate — her assigned spot was located next to access stairs on a ground floor, which he considered unsuitable for the tourist train information and ticketing duties she was meant to perform. He stated he was aware she had worked and that activity logs and performance evaluations supported that conclusion, and he categorically denied receiving any instructions from Ábalos or García to give her preferential treatment.

Claudia Montes at Logirail — key events: — ; — ; — ; — ; — ; —

Library visits during work hours draw judge's scrutiny One of the most striking moments of the session came when Montes described how she spent part of her working hours at the Oviedo public library. She explained that her assigned office at the Renfe station lacked a desk and left her facing a wall, making normal work impossible, and that female colleagues from Renfe eventually brought down a chair and a desk for her. In that context, she said, she would go to the library to read. The presiding judge, Andrés Martínez Arrieta, intervened directly to ask whether those library visits took place during working hours. Montes confirmed they did, adding that she read books about trains in order to learn everything she needed to know about the sector. She also defended her overall work record, telling the court she put in more than 80 hours of overtime per year and that she was eventually promoted through her own effort. Montes added that she had started her workdays at 4:00 in the morning and said she could prove it through her Instagram activity. Her employment at Logirail ran from December 2019 to February 2022, ending with what she described as an unfair dismissal for which she received a settlement of 21 days' pay. 80 (hours per year) — overtime hours Montes claimed to have worked annually at Logirail

The Koldo case, also known as the Ábalos case or the mask case, centers on allegations that Ábalos and members of his inner circle arranged irregular public contracts and employment placements during his tenure as Minister of Transport in the first two governments of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. The case takes its name from Koldo García Izaguirre, Ábalos's former ministerial advisor. Ábalos served as Minister of Transport between 2018 and 2021 and was also secretary of organization of the PSOE. The case attracted wider attention after it emerged that Ábalos's former partner, Jésica Rodríguez, had been placed in positions at public companies Ineco and Tragsa without performing the associated duties — a matter addressed on the first day of the trial, the day before Montes testified. Víctor de Aldama, the third defendant, is a businessman previously known for his involvement in other corruption proceedings in Spain.