Spanish Govt admits Ábalos' friend held public job for 18 months

Spanish Govt admits Ábalos' friend held public job for 18 months

How long did a dental student receive a salary from a state engineering company under her friend's ministry? The answer, confirmed via the Transparency Portal, is eighteen months: Jesica R.G. was hired by Ineco as an administrative assistant from September 1, 2019 to February 28, 2021, according to documents obtained by THE OBJECTIVE. During this period, she was pursuing university studies completely unrelated to the company’s activity, which focuses on transport infrastructure consulting and engineering.

This detail is significant. The company reported directly to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, then led by José Luis Ábalos. Moreover, the hiring occurred after the young woman accompanied the minister on about ten official trips, including Girona and Barcelona in November 2018, Strasbourg and the Balearic Islands in March 2019, Moscow in August 2019, and Abu Dhabi in October of that year.

What was a dental student doing at a state engineering firm?

The public company has only responded that the former employee worked as an administrative assistant within the "Professional Group II (II. Administrative Personnel) of the national collective agreement for engineering companies." In other words, a generic category applicable to any office clerk in any technical department. This bears no relation to her dentistry studies nor to the topics discussed during the trips she attended.

In Strasbourg, discussions covered port labor, European airspace, and Brexit. In Moscow, Ábalos met with Russia’s Deputy Minister of Transport and the head of Russian Railways. In Abu Dhabi, he attended the XXVI World Road Congress. There is no record that any of these trips involved matters related to his companion’s professional field.

Emails intercepted from the minister’s advisor, Koldo García, also reveal a closeness beyond professional bounds. The young woman sent Koldo class notes under the subject line "cheat sheets". And in a September 2019 email, an employee of the Spanish Embassy in Russia who served as driver during the visit asked to send regards to "Ms. Jesica, Mr. Koldo, and their two bodyguards."

A recurring pattern: public contracts and personal ties

The case has reignited debate over control mechanisms in state-owned enterprises. The sequence is familiar: personal relationship, official travel, hiring at a subsidiary of the same ministry. While there is no verdict or formal indictment in available materials, the temporal overlap between the trips and her subsequent employment is what has raised suspicions.

Some argue such hires are common in administration and that an administrative assistant role requires no specific qualifications. Counterarguments note that the hiring entity is a public engineering firm whose projects have no link to the employee’s training, and that the timing coincides with peak proximity between them.

The official response merely confirms the position and dates. Neither Ineco nor the ministry has detailed her specific tasks, who authorized the hire, or what selection criteria were used. The Transparency Portal verified basic facts, but the rest of the file remains opaque.

Implications for public spending debate

This issue fits into broader discussions on using public funds for private ends. Each revealed case raises the question of how many remain hidden. Some contend that cross-administration nepotism—placing associates in another agency’s organization and vice versa—hampers traceability and dilutes accountability.

While the aggregate cost of such practices is hard to quantify, fruta damage is immediate. When citizens see a dental student ending up as a clerk at a state engineering firm under her friend’s ministry, the question isn’t just the salary’s cost, but how many selection processes were distorted by discretionary decisions.

Final irony: while debates rage over replacing the official aircraft fleet due to discomfort, public contracts remain comfortable enough for a minister’s friend to find a spot without anyone quite knowing why.