Zapatero met in Beijing with the Communist Party company that appointed him intermediary for the purchase of Venezuelan oil

MadridThe former Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, met in Beijing with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) company and he was appointed intermediary for the purchase of Venezuelan oil, according to the report by the Economic and Fiscal Crimes Unit (UDEF) of the National Police, which includes a letter of intent from the Chinese regime's company addressed to Zapatero.

This letter is dated October 30, 2023, two weeks after Zapatero went to Beijing at the invitation of the Chinese Communist Party. The former Spanish Prime Minister was in Beijing between October 16 and 18, 2023. There, Zapatero attended the III Forum of the New Silk Roads and met with Liu Jianchao, head of International Relations for the party. The former PSOE leader also had a meeting with Guo Yezhou, vice minister of the international department of the CCP Central Committee.

After this trip, Zapatero, as the UDEF reports, was appointed intermediary for the purchase of Venezuelan oil by the Chinese Communist Party. The former Spanish Prime Minister returned to China after receiving the letter of intent and met again with Jianchao and Yezhou in November 2023. This is one of the conclusions of the 158-page police report that was leaked on Saturday night.

Likewise, the report places Zapatero and his daughters as the main ultimate beneficiaries of the funds obtained by the Plus Ultra network with the government's bailout during the pandemic, according to a report by the Economic and Fiscal Crimes Unit (UDEF) of the National Police. This is a second UDEF report on the investigation that is ongoing in this case, in which Zapatero will have to testify before the judge on June 2 as an investigated party, as reported by the Efe agency.

"The main ultimate beneficiary of the funds obtained by the network would be José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the company WHATHEFAV, whose administrators and partners are his daughters Alba and Laura Rodríguez Espinosa, which again justifies the transfer of funds through contracts that would serve as mere documentary justification," states the UDEF. The UDEF thus places Zapatero and his daughters at the epicenter of the scheme, who have not yet been charged by the National Court. The former Prime Minister and former PSOE leader has been summoned to testify on June 2 by the investigating judge, José Luis Calama.

According to the police report that supports the indictment of the former PSOE leader, he himself would hold leadership of the network and it would be accredited through "the direction exercised in relation to clients and Relevant Analysis, the instructions issued for the incorporation of companies abroad to allegedly receive payments or the different strategies followed to try to detach him from the activities within the network". The UDEF speaks of the existence of an "team" led by Zapatero that would have acted as a nexus of influence between a boutique firm and different business and institutional actors.

According to the report, the group would be integrated, among others, by Julio Martínez Martínez and Fajardo García, considered by the investigators as the "lieutenants" responsible for articulating the organization's contacts. In this regard, the police investigation maintains that both operated as direct intermediaries with clients and entities. As the police report states, "the set of indications collected within the framework of these proceedings shows the existence of an organized network dedicated to the exercise of influence based on the contacts held by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero".

The Plus Ultra plot tried to boycott the investigation

This same police report reveals a conversation between Rodolfo Reyes, a shareholder of Plus Ultra, and his lawyer Miguel Palomero, in which they discussed "making a Kitchen Cabinet" to boycott the judicial investigation. The UDEF report points to a conversation on May 20, 2021, between Reyes and Palomero, in which the latter indicates that the next day he will ask for information about "what the judge of the 15th is like," because "the investigation is very important" and emphasizes that "the chief prosecutor is a friend" and that "it needs to be stopped." "Absolutely," Reyes replies, according to the UDEF report, which adds that the Plus Ultra shareholder tells him to speak with Julio Martínez – president of the airline – to stop it. "We need to make a Kitchen Cabinet," Palomero concludes.

The report also includes a message from the president of Plus Ultra, Julio Martínez Sola, to a shareholder of the airline, in which he says he has had a "satisfactory conversation" with Manuel Fajardo, a trusted confidant of Zapatero. Martínez Sola speaks with Rodolfo Reyes, a Plus Ultra shareholder, whose mobile phone dump was provided by an American agency, and assures him that he is surprised by the speed of events and has even had to change his profile picture showing him with Spanish suspenders because Zapatero will call him directly.

"Zapatero is going to call me. I had to change my profile picture. hahaha. The Spanish suspenders hahaha," he remarks. The conversation between the two ends with Rodolfo Reyes saying: "I already saw that you are very corporate in your profile picture," and Martínez Sola replies: "I'll put on Mr. Bean's. It's the same as Zapatero," he jokes, referring to the British actor Rowan Atkinson.