The Junts spokesperson in the Senate, Eduard Pujol, used his appearance to discuss Catalonia and the PSOE's negotiations with Junts. In a questioning interrupted on more than one occasion by the committee chairman, who reproached the pro-independence senator for constantly straying from the subject of the investigation, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero indicated that he perceived that the more he participated in the meetings in Geneva with Junts, the more the "degree of aggression and manipulation" directed at him intensified. The former Spanish president boasted of having an "intense, sincere, and very positive relationship" with Carles Puigdemont and expressed his desire to be able to resume negotiations with Junts: "I think it would be essential for us to be able to resume dialogue."
"I've been brought here for slander": the questions Zapatero answered about the Plus Ultra case
The former Spanish president denies any involvement in the airline bailout and claims he did not discuss it with either Sánchez or Ábalos.
Madrid"I have never had any connection with Plus Ultra, nor did anyone ask me for anything. I did nothing and had no interest in the bailout." José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero testified for four hours before the Senate's Koldo case investigation committee. called by the PP at the start of the election campaign in Castile and León to talk, primarily, about the Plus Ultra bailout. A case that is under investigation for alleged money laundering – it is questioned whether part of the bailout could have been used to launder money from corruption in Venezuela – and which the Popular Party has long considered highly credible.
Zapatero has completely distanced himself. The former Spanish president made it clear from the beginning of his appearance that he had "no conversation" with anyone in the Spanish government about the 53 million euro bailout the airline received during the pandemic. Not with Pedro Sánchez, nor with José Luis Ábalos – who was Minister of Transport – nor with Pedro Saura – who was the Secretary of State for Transport. Ábalos stated in an interview with OK Daily that he had been "pressured," but he replied that it was "completely false." According to the former president, during Ábalos's time at the ministry, they only met once, after the Plus Ultra bailout. "I've even been lucky," he joked. He also asserted that he doesn't know Julio Martínez Sola, the president of Plus Ultra: "No communication, no relationship, nothing at all."
Despite the explanations he has been giving, and without providing any corroborating evidence, the PP senator who questioned him, Fernando Martínez-Maíllo, presented him as a "lobbyist for totalitarian regimes" and cast a permanent shadow of doubt over his testimony. "It seems you may have received public money," he snapped at the end of his statement. "You are the only former president under suspicion. [...] You're up to your neck in it, there are indications everywhere, and all this data proves it," he added. And Zapatero complained about the "incriminating content" of all the statements being made: "Repeating a suspicion means nothing; no one here is under suspicion." However, the chairman of the committee, Eloy Suárez of the People's Party, argued that, since the Senate "is not a court of law," what is stated there "does not have to be proven with concrete evidence." At the end of the session, Carmen Fúnez, the PP's Deputy Secretary for Health and Social Policy, argued that the former Spanish president "has not clarified any doubts" and that his appearance has revealed a "relationship of collusion" between him, Pedro Sánchez, and Venezuela. A run of eight kilometers
The key to all of this is the friendship between Zapatero and Julio Martínez MartínezOne of the businessmen arrested in connection with the Plus Ultra case investigation. Three months ago, photos surfaced of a meeting between Martínez and Zapatero three days before the arrest, and Alberto Núñez Feijóo accused Zapatero of having warned his friend that he was under investigation. "They've brought me here for slander and libel," the former Spanish president declared, making it clear that the accusation was "absolutely perverse, false, outrageous, and shameful." "It's a crude setup," he emphasized.
What was he doing? "I was running, as I often do, in my usual area," he explained. He even said he had a record of the run: eight kilometers between nine and ten in the morning. "He didn't give me any paperwork; it's false. I've never had a prepaid cell phone in my life; I don't know what that is," he added. Since then, out of "prudence," he hasn't run with his friend again, who "never" asked him for "anything strange." And he has refused to provide the conversations he had with him, citing his right to privacy: "It's not a whim, it's a civic duty."
70,000 euros a year from his friend's company
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero also spoke about Análisis Relevante, the company owned by Julio Martínez Martínez, for which he works as a consultant and which is at the center of the judicial investigation. He recounted that it was his friend who suggested hiring him and acknowledged that he earns an average of 70,000 euros gross per year as a freelancer—a status he has held since 2012. "It's a market price that, logically, takes into account the consultant's experience, personality, and capabilities," he specified. "I've never had a company, neither here nor anywhere else in the world, not even in Kuala Lumpur," he exclaimed. He also admitted that when he accepted Julio Martínez's offer, he proposed that his daughters' communications agency, Whathefav, handle the marketing and communications.
A "great relationship" with Delcy Rodríguez
Regarding Venezuela, he said he has a "great relationship" with Delcy Rodríguez, who was Nicolás Maduro's vice president and is President of Venezuela Since his imprisonment, he has spoken with her almost every week, he admitted. With the former Venezuelan president, however, he has "much less" contact. Zapatero also stated that he did not influence the Spanish government in any way to change its stance on Venezuela. His relationship with this country and with the government of Nicolás Maduro led the far-right organization Hazte Oír to file a lawsuit against him two months ago, but the National Court dismissed the case. He refused to investigate him due to a lack of evidence of criminal activity.
A flight with Aldama
Zapatero also recounted that he shared a one-hour-and-fifteen-minute flight with Víctor de Aldama—the alleged fixer in the Koldo case—on a plane chartered by the Venezuelan government, a "coincidence." The former Spanish president was at Miraflores Palace—the seat of the Venezuelan government—and was asked if he would have any "obligation" to fly to the Dominican Republic with a "Spanish businessman," who turned out to be Aldama. "I don't remember what I talked about with him. I haven't seen him since, and I haven't had any contact with him," he stated.
The letter from 'Pollo' Carvajal
At another point, Zapatero displayed a letter that he had received from Chicken Carvajal, the former director of Venezuelan military intelligence. "It has been said that he said countless things about me," the former Spanish president recalled. One of the statements attributed to him was an accusation that he had a gold mine in Venezuela. Zapatero took advantage of his appearance before the Senate to read an excerpt from the letter he sent: "I have said nothing about you, nor do I have anything to say. I am used to the media using your name, and I have never bothered to deny it. Perhaps it was a mistake. I am certain that I will not lend myself to that; I simply have no knowledge of any wrongdoing."