Zapatero denies any connection to the Plus Ultra bailout: "They have nothing against me"
The former Spanish president stated in the Senate that he did not speak with either Sánchez or Ábalos about the airline.
Madrid"I have never had any dealings with Plus Ultra, nor has anyone ever asked me for anything." José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero appeared this morning before the Senate's Koldo case investigation committee. summoned by the PP at the start of the Castile and León election campaign to discuss the bailout of the airline Plus Ultra—which took place during the pandemic and is under investigation for alleged money laundering—and its connection to Nicolás Maduro. The former Spanish president, who He is a target of the political and media right. Since the beginning of the legislative session, although he has never been judicially investigated, he made it clear from the outset of his appearance that he had "no conversations" with anyone in the government about the Plus Ultra bailout. 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.
"I didn't speak with any public authority about the Plus Ultra bailout, [...] everything that has been said is a huge lie," he emphasized. "I didn't do anything or show any interest in the bailout," he insisted in response to questions from the Vox senator. And he reproached her for "speculating" and "making conjectures." With the Spanish president, he only spoke, after the fact, about the Senate's investigative committee. And he only met Ábalos once when he was a minister, and that was after the bailout: "I was even lucky," he joked. Zapatero also asserted that he does not know Julio Martínez Sola, the president of Plus Ultra: "I have had no relationship with him whatsoever, zero. No communication, no relationship, nothing at all." Before beginning, Zapatero wanted to make it clear that he is appearing before the Senate "as a private citizen" because he has not held any public office for over a decade: "I am not politically accountable to this committee," he declared.
An eight-kilometer training run
The keystone of it all is his friendship with Julio Martínez MartínezOne of the businessmen arrested as part of the investigation. What has been investigated so far in Madrid's Court Number 15 – which on Friday decided to recuse itself so that the National Court could continue the investigations – is whether part of the Plus Ultra bailout could have been used to launder money from corruption in Venezuela.
Three months ago, photos surfaced of a meeting between Julio Martínez and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero three days before the arrest. "I was running, as I often did, in my usual area," the former Spanish president replied. 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 completely false. I've never had a prepaid mobile phone in my life, I don't know what that is," he added.
A "great relationship" with Delcy Rodríguez
His relationship with Venezuela has surfaced intermittently, but the chairman of the committee, Eloy Suárez of the People's Party, has blocked senators who brought up the issue. However, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has acknowledged having a "great relationship" with Delcy Rodríguez, who was Nicolás Maduro's vice president and has been president of Venezuela since his arrest. "I spoke with her almost daily," he admitted. With the former Venezuelan president, however, he has "much less" a relationship. And he stated that he did not influence the Spanish government in any way to change its stance on Venezuela. Zapatero's relationship with this country and with the government of Nicolás Maduro led the far-right organization Hazte Oír to file a lawsuit against the former head of the Spanish government for the crimes of money laundering, drug trafficking, and belonging to a criminal organization. However, the National Court decided a month ago to dismiss the lawsuit due to a lack of evidence of criminal activity.
A flight with Aldama
He also recounted sharing 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 "coincidental" encounter. 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 discussed with him, and I've had no further contact with him," he recalled.
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 the job 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 have never owned a company, neither here nor anywhere else in the world, not even in Kuala Lumpur," he added. He also admitted that when he accepted Julio Martínez's offer, he proposed that his daughters' communications agency, Whathefav, handle the marketing and communications.
The PSOE denounces a "circus ring"
An hour before the committee hearing began, sources within the PSOE lamented that Zapatero's appearance was "yet another episode" demonstrating that the PP "has decided to turn the Senate into its own private circus ring." They criticized the "institutional degradation" of the upper house, the "partisan use of public resources," and the "spurious" use of institutions. "The PP is using a state institution as a campaign tool and as an instrument to undermine the Spanish government," they denounced from Ferraz (the PSOE headquarters). The Socialists believe that Senate investigative committees are a "totum revolutumwithout a clear purpose" that "serves for everything and for nothing" and that the popular ones use as an "electoral platform" and as a "megaphone of political persecution" against leaders of the Socialist PSOE.