The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor rejects Manuel Contreras' lawsuit against Aldama and supports the allegations of irregular commissions. The group has a presence in Huelva with Azsuma in Almonte and railway works.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor has dealt a judicial blow to Grupo Azvi, the construction company chaired by Manuel Contreras Caro, by backing the statements of businessman Víctor de Aldama regarding the alleged payment of commissions in exchange for public works contracts. The information, reported by Huelva Hoy, details that the Public Prosecutor's Office considers that these accusations are not solely based on the statements of the intermediary but have been corroborated by other evidentiary elements gathered during the judicial investigation.
The pronouncement, signed by the chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Alejandro Luzón, represents a new obstacle for the president of Azvi, who had approached the Supreme Court intending to file a lawsuit against Aldama for alleged crimes of defamation and slander.
In a document addressed to the Criminal Chamber of the High Court, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor rejects the conclusion that the actions taken allow for Aldama's claims about the alleged payment of kickbacks to be deemed false. This is a decisive circumstance for a defamation lawsuit to succeed.
Manuel Contreras had requested authorization to take legal action against Aldama for statements in which he attributed to the construction company and its president the payment of a sum of money as compensation for the awarding of a public works contract.
However, prosecutor Alejandro Luzón believes there are no grounds to grant that authorization at this procedural stage. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor reminds that the businessman’s statements were made in the exercise of his right to defence and that, furthermore, the evidence gathered does not support the claim that the accusations are false.
The most relevant argument in the document is that the investigation into the alleged payment of commissions linked to public contracts remains open in the National Court. In that procedure, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office, Aldama's statements have been supported by other evidentiary elements, albeit with the provisionality inherent to an ongoing investigation.
However, the Prosecutor's Office introduces an important clarification: Manuel Contreras is currently not under investigation in these proceedings. Therefore, the support for Aldama's statements does not equate to a judicial declaration of guilt for Azvi or its president.
The accusations against the construction company are framed within investigations into alleged irregularities in the awarding of public works during José Luis Ábalos' tenure at the Ministry of Transport.
In his statement and in the documentation provided to the case, Aldama pointed to several companies and claimed that certain awards were linked to the payment of commissions. Among them, he identified Azvi, a company that, according to published information, maintained contacts with Koldo García, a former advisor to the then minister.
The actions include references to meetings with representatives of the construction company in Koldo García's agendas, as well as a subsequent professional relationship between the business group and the former advisor through a consulting firm.
Aldama also attributed to Azvi a payment of 18,000 euros made in October 2019 to an entity linked to the businessman, which, according to his account, was related to mediation in a public contract award. This is one of the claims that are part of the proceedings and whose assessment corresponds to the judicial bodies.
The case has gained particular relevance due to possible connections between public works awards and the network under investigation surrounding Ábalos, Koldo García, and Aldama.
The business group also has a presence in the province of Huelva through various activities, although to date, no evidence has emerged indicating that kickbacks have also been recorded in relation to works in this territory.
One of them is Azsuma, the company linked to urban and environmental services of Grupo Azvi and Cointer, which carries out cleaning and waste collection work in Almonte.
The group's establishment in the Huelva territory also extends to the field of railway infrastructure. Azvi has participated in the renewal of the Zafra-Huelva line, with actions affecting municipalities such as Calañas, Gibraleón, and Trigueros, in addition to work on the section between Almonaster la Real and Calañas. This is complemented by street cleaning and beach services that the group documented in Ayamonte in 2021.
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