Julio Martínez does not clarify who Zapatero influenced for the rescue of Plus Ultra
The businessman explains before the judge that the payments were interrupted and redirected after a court in Madrid opened an investigation into the granting of public aid
MadridJulio Martínez Martínez has become one of the key figures in the investigation into José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. They both met in 2011, when the former president sold him a house in Almeria, they became friends and got fond of going out running together. The UDEF believes he was his frontman. 24 hours after disrupting Zapatero's defense strategy by assuring that he was the one who “marked the steps to follow” in the Plus Ultra rescue, the businessman has spent four hours testifying before Judge José Luis Calama as a suspect and has fully ratified the confession about the former president's intervention. Despite this, he said he does not know who he influenced or with whom he spoke for the airline to receive public aid. Sources present at the declaration explain to ARA that he recounted that he simply relayed to Zapatero what clients told him, that he did not get involved in the actions he took, and that he did not report to him if he was going to see anyone.
He has not specified how the 1% commission was distributed – amounting to 530,000 euros – which Zapatero earned as a "mediator in obtaining" the bailout, and therefore, has not specified how much he kept for himself and how much the former president pocketed. In fact, in another document submitted on Monday, the president of Plus Ultra, Julio Martínez Sola, admitted that the company "never had concrete knowledge" of the "specific actions" Zapatero took to "favor" the bailout. However, he admitted that seeking his mediation was a "desperate measure" in exchange for which they paid "high" amounts of money. A month ago, the former president assured that he had "no intervention" in public aid and that he did not exercise "even the slightest" influence. Despite the latest developments, Moncloa reaffirms confidence in the former president.
Julio Martínez Martínez has made it clear that at Análisis Relevante – his company, which is at the epicenter of the alleged scheme – there was nothing, but rather it was a mere vehicle for Zapatero's contracts. And he acted as a link between the former president and what the clients requested. He also spoke about the mechanics of the invoices: Zapatero had clients, Análisis Relevante billed them and then redirected the money to the former president. He specified that in 2021, following the opening of an investigation in the Madrid courts into the Plus Ultra bailout, payments to Análisis Relevante were interrupted and resumed later through another company, Voli Analítica. He also explained that he had a very good relationship with Delcy Rodríguez – the current interim president of Venezuela – saying that she helped him with matters he had to handle there, and pointed out that he traveled to the Latin American country several times with Zapatero.
Given his explanations, the judge asked him if he was the former president's "go-between", that is, a kind of pimp, a person who arranges a romantic relationship. And he accepted this description. The Dubai company that the judge suspects was to be used to collect the commission in exchange for the bailout also appeared. However, Julio Martínez clarified that they never got to set it up because it was too complex. Finally, he stated that the reports were real, but acknowledged that they did not have much added value and only served to attract clients. In fact, Julio Martínez Sola, president of Plus Ultra, points out that either “such a report did not exist” or its “materiality” was “irrelevant” for the airline and had a “simply cover-up” purpose.
The statement, which comes after the businessman decided to follow in Víctor de Aldama's footsteps and collaborate with the justice system to “contribute to the clarification” of the facts, has not resolved the major questions that existed at the beginning. At one point during the interrogation, the judge even asked him not to be so generic. “He hasn't given more details, I haven't seen any headlines,” said one of the lawyers present in the room on his way out. “He hasn't met expectations, he's been less emphatic than expected,” added another lawyer.
A “relevant role at different levels”
Two months ago, in the ruling that justified the investigation into Zapatero, Judge Calama pointed out that Julio Martínez would have had a “relevant role at different levels” and positioned him as a “usual interlocutor” for the network's clients and as a “receiver and executor” of the “direct instructions” from the former president. He also argued that he was the owner of the companies that channeled the funds received from clients and that served to “conceal the real decision-making mechanisms”.
This, precisely, fits with what he now states, maintaining that, despite Zapatero “being outside the shareholding and formal bodies” of the company, he was the one who “led and decided all matters of strategy and client acquisition” for Análisis Relevante. The company paid 490,780 euros to Zapatero and 239,755 euros to What The Fav, his daughters' company, which is also under investigation and will be summoned to testify from the second week of September.