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SearchJosé María Escribano has summoned Aagesen and other people to appear on November 23 and 24. For now, the only person under investigation in the case over the €475 million loan is Bartolomé Lora.
Judge José María Escribano has summoned Sara Aagesen, the government’s third deputy prime minister and minister for the Ecological Transition, to testify as a witness in the investigation into the public loan granted to Air Europa in 2020. The appearances are scheduled for November 23 and 24, during the week of the general election announced for the 29th of that month.
The case examines the granting of €475 million to the airline through the Fund for the Support of the Solvency of Strategic Companies, managed by the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI). The loan was approved in November 2020 by the Council of Ministers, after the fund’s management board endorsed the operation.
Aagesen was secretary of state for energy when the aid was processed and was a member of the fund’s management board. Those also summoned include former Secretary of State for the Economy Ana de la Cueva, former Undersecretary of Finance Pilar Paneque, and former Secretary-General for Industry Raúl Blanco, who were members of that body.
The list also includes Pedro Saura, then secretary of state for transport and now president of Correos; Manuel de la Rocha, head of the Economic Office of the Presidency of the Government; and former MP Íñigo Errejón. Other former public officials and people involved in processing the operation have also been summoned, including the current president of the National Securities Market Commission, Carlos San Basilio.
The summonses seek to gather testimony as part of the investigation. In Errejón’s case, news coverage links the summons to a parliamentary question he submitted about the terms of the loan. The summons does not, in itself, mean that the judge attributes criminal responsibility to him.
The proceedings were opened following complaints filed by the People’s Party and Vox and are being pursued on suspicion of alleged administrative prevarication. For now, Bartolomé Lora, vice-president of SEPI, is the only person under investigation. He testified before the judge on July 3: according to published reports, he acknowledged that meetings related to the bailout had taken place and denied that any irregularities had been committed.
The distinction between the two procedural statuses is important: a person called as a witness does not, for that reason, have the status of a person under investigation. The appearances form part of the preliminary investigative proceedings and do not amount to a finding of guilt or, in themselves, determine whether the aid was legal or illegal. The case must proceed and be resolved in accordance with the judicial proceedings.
The public prosecutor’s office maintains that the acts do not constitute a crime, but its request does not amount to an acquittal: the case must continue through the Madrid Provincial Court.
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