Beyond Plus Ultra... who are the other clients of Zapatero's alleged plot?

MadridPlus Ultra is the company at the epicenter of the investigation against José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for the public bailout of 53 million euros that he allegedly received thanks to the influence of the former Spanish president. However, the airline is not the only client of Julio Martínez Martínez's corporate network, supposedly directed by the former socialist leader from the shadows. Both the UDEF in its police reports and the National High Court judge José Luis Calama in his indictment order speak of a consolidated organization that sought to profit thanks to Zapatero's "direct intervention" in "high-value international operations." The commission allegedly received from the Venezuelan directors of Plus Ultra would be just one of the plot's income streams.

The UDEF identifies up to 39 companies under the control of Julio Martínez Martínez and names this network "finance boutique". The main company in this network is Análisis Relevante, from whom Zapatero received income billed as advisory services, although investigators believe that the officially used terms were a cover to hide the payment of alleged illegal commissions. Outside the business with Plus Ultra, the reports mention Inteligencia Prospectiva, managed by the Amaro Chacón brothers, also Venezuelans, as one of the main payers of the boutique". Between 2020 and 2024, they transferred 368,258.72 euros to Análisis Relevante. In addition, they also paid 561,440 euros to What The Fav, the company of Zapatero's daughters, also under scrutiny, and 266,200 euros to Gate Center, a think tank" linked to the former president.

Among the messages of one of the brothers, Domingo Amaro, with Julio Martínez Martínez, the UDEF identifies that there were some in which he directly addressed someone he called "president", supposedly in reference to Zapatero, to whom they would actually be destined. The investigators add that the company Inteligencia Prospectiva, formally defined as a consultancy, has scarce or null income from its own activity and they suspect that they used Zapatero's network of influences to access oil and raw material purchase and sale operations in China. Added to the list of paying companies are names such as Softgestor, which paid 145,200 euros between 2020 and 2021; Grupo Aldesa, with amounts totaling 127,050 euros, or Corpoestructura, managed by Rodolfo Reyes, a shareholder of Plus Ultra, which in 2021 signed a contract with Análisis Relevante that amounted to 484,000 euros over 40 months.

Clients and potential businesses

In addition to the registered income, the UDEF justifies Zapatero's hypothesis of seeking businesses and clients by the fact that the former Spanish president sent a list with potential clients' names to Julio Martínez Martínez. This Excel document includes senior executives from large corporations such as Yong Ying, from Huawei Spain; Florentino Pérez, from ACS; Youyou Zhang, from China Railway Construction International Company; Josu Jon Imaz, from Repsol, or Javier Hidalgo, from Globalia. Also on this list is Julio Martínez Sola, a director at Plus Ultra, with whom the network allegedly did business for the bailout. The UDEF also identifies that the network saw a business opportunity linked to another of the paying companies, Grupo Aldesa, and one from the boutique, Idella Consulenza Strategica, in the Hard Rock project in Tarragona, although it is not recorded that it was carried out.

"Successful management"

The dealings that the network would have carried out for Plus Ultra would have another leg related to the management of flight permits and the airline's operations in Venezuela. The UDEF records a message from July 31, 2021, a few months after the approval of the bailout, in which Zapatero congratulates Julio Martínez Martínez: "In time and form. Successful management". Immediately after receiving this communication from the former president, his "lieutenant" communicated and thanked Juan Manuel Teixeira Díaz, president of the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics of Venezuela, for the successful management. In a period between April and December of the same year, the UDEF has detected 14 invoices with the concept "services rendered for the management of Madrid-Caracas flights" totaling 86,992.95 euros, which the network deposited through Voli Analítica, another company of Julio Martínez Martínez.