Aldama’s associate now offers to give the judge more information about the fuel fraud

Until now, Rivas had always remained silent. He will turn on Pano, the woman linked to the bags at Ferraz.

Original photo caption: Claudio Rivas (right), Aldama’s associate and also under investigation in an alleged fraud scheme in the fuel sector, arriving at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, where the investigation into the Koldo case continues with testimony from several witnesses. Efe

ÁLVARO OLLOQUI  @aolloqi

Madrid  Created: 21 Sep 2026 09:52  |  Last updated: 21 Sep 2026 09:52

Claudio Rivas, businessman Víctor de Aldama’s “associate” in the fuel business, is preparing to request permission to testify in the case concerning Villafuel’s multimillion-euro fraud against the Spanish Tax Agency, estimated at around €182 million.

In a filing submitted to the National Court and seen exclusively by LA RAZÓN, Rivas explains that he intends shortly to ask to appear voluntarily before Judge Santiago Pedraz.

Sources familiar with his strategy who were consulted by this newspaper say that his plan is to try to demonstrate the true responsibility of Carmen Pano—the businesswoman who claims she delivered €90,000 in cash to the PSOE headquarters on Calle Ferraz—and her daughter, Leonor María González Pano, for the multimillion-euro VAT fraud involving the sale of fuel linked to Villafuel.

He will also distance himself from the purchase of the villa in the La Alcaidesa development in Cádiz that was made available to former minister José Luis Ábalos in exchange for the steps he took with two ministries—Industry and Ecological Transition—to expedite the state operator’s licence for the company.

In this regard, he will argue that the money used for the purchase came from the Pano family and that the property was therefore registered in the name of HaveGot Time, a limited company managed solely by Leonor María González.

The sources say Rivas wants to stress in court that the mother and daughter were the “deposit holders” and “monopolists” in the fuel business and allegedly failed to make a tax withholding required by law.

By contrast, he will argue that he did not have the same tax obligations because he acted only as an “intermediary” in supply transactions. He will also seek recognition that he has no formal commercial relationship with Villafuel.

Rivas has not begun cooperating with the Public Prosecutor’s Office; rather, he wants to provide new information relevant to the proceedings in order to strengthen his defence.

This change in strategy—previously characterised by his refusal to answer questions in court—is connected to his appointment of a new defence lawyer this past summer.

However, what would be his second statement as a suspect in the case will have to wait until his legal team receives copies of the most recent witness testimony.

That testimony includes statements taken last May from two Exolum employees whose company stored Villafuel’s fuel; from businessman Manuel Sallés, who employed Koldo García after he left the Ministry of Transport and warned Ábalos that Rivas was claiming to have bought his favour by paying for the holiday home; and, on 3 September, from Cristian Corvillo, who worked as Pedro Sánchez’s driver at the PSOE, and his brother Rubén Jonás.

“None of those recordings appears in the copy of the case file,” this party warns, adding that before testifying Rivas needs to know precisely what those people said and to “safeguard the right of defence”.

The sources make clear that, like the broker in the Koldo case, Rivas denies the truth of Carmen Pano’s statement that thousands of euros were delivered in bags to the Socialist Party headquarters as payment for facilitating Villafuel’s licence.

Pano’s account is, however, corroborated by Álvaro Gallego, who acted as her driver on one of those occasions. Gallego was, in fact, very close to Rivas for many years.

The Civil Guard’s Central Operational Unit (UCO) maintains that Rivas and Aldama exercised “overall leadership of this criminal organisation” and held “decision-making authority, control and coordination over both structures”.

Investigators believe that Villafuel and the network of fuel-trading companies with which they operated allowed Rivas to “reactivate the fraudulent operation” he had allegedly carried out through Gaslow after the police operation that dismantled it. He has already been committed for trial in that separate fuel-tax fraud case, which was also investigated by the judge of Central Investigating Court No. 5 of the National Court.

After two years of investigation, Judge Pedraz extended the inquiry for a further six months last June because the UCO had yet to deliver a report on the “large volume of documentation” seized during searches and on the alleged scheme’s electronic devices.

Laundering the proceeds

The Public Prosecutor’s Office has already pointed to the transfer to third countries by Claudio Rivas and the other alleged participants in the fuel case of around €70 million in proceeds allegedly obtained unlawfully through the fuel VAT fraud still under investigation.

They are accused of criminal organisation, money laundering and tax fraud. More recently, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office indicated that Víctor de Aldama and others may have transferred a total of €27.9 million from the fraud to shell companies based in Portugal.

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