The audios of Zapatero's declaration before the judge are filtered: "I did not exercise the slightest influence"

MadridThe day after José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero spent three hours testifying as an investigated party at the National High Court, audios have been leaked in which the former Spanish government president is heard defending himself against accusations of allegedly committing a crime of influence peddling to obtain the public rescue of Plus Ultra, an airline linked to Venezuelan capital. It had already emerged that the former socialist leader had denied it. And, in the recordings to which ARA has had access, he is heard saying it with the following words: "I did not speak with any political authority, with any official, with any public employee about Plus Ultra's rescue". Throughout the interrogation by Judge José Luis Calama, the former Spanish president insists. "I had no involvement, I did not speak with anyone [...] and this is an unquestionable truth. There will be no one who can say otherwise. Therefore, I did not exert the slightest influence nor did anyone ask me to".

What Zapatero did admit is having made a call to a director of Banco Santander to help Plus Ultra. This is a step prior to the company deciding to seek public rescue. As stated in the case summary, before resorting to this route, Plus Ultra tried, unsuccessfully, for the private entity to grant them loans guaranteed by the Official Credit Institute (ICO).

Among the case documents, there was already a letter signed by Zapatero that the company's executives used with the vice president of Banco Santander, Juan Manuel Cendoya, so that he would help them. The former Spanish president explained it this way before the judge: "They asked me for a favor so that they would be attended to by Santander. Perhaps this would be the first time [he heard of them]". He does not specify what happened next or if they achieved their goals.

"Who asked him?", Calama asked. To which Zapatero admitted that it was his friend Julio Martínez Martínez, considered by investigators to be the straw man of the former Spanish president. The former socialist leader downplayed the call and stated that he did not inquire about Plus Ultra. "Many people ask me for similar arrangements. [...] I had confidence in Mr. Cendoya [a Santander executive], it was simply so that he would attend to them. And notice that I do this with people and companies that have problems," Zapatero argued.

The former Spanish president also distanced himself from the alleged network, supposedly managed by Julio Martínez Martínez, to collect commissions for the alleged dealings he made in favor of the airline. "I have never had a company nor have I ever participated in any," he assured.

The 'damned' jewels

If there is a debate in Madrid, it is about the value of the jewelry found on the former president during the search of his office. The murmuring is such that Judge Calama asked him in the following way: "I inform you that the content of the proceedings may affect your daughters or your wife. You decide to what extent you deem it appropriate to answer or not to answer. And now let's go to the darned jewelry. I know you've appealed, but the appeal is not suspensive. Do you want to testify or not?" Zapatero is concise and categorical: "No, I do not want to testify."

From here, the judge develops the interrogation about the main case, the rescue of Plus Ultra, in which he tries to find out what his relationship was with Julio Martínez Martínez. The businessman owner of Analisi Relevante.

How do you know Julio Martínez Martínez? The former president explains that he met him through friends in 2011 and that from then on they shared hobbies like running. It is not until 2020 that Martínez creates Análisi Relevante and proposes Zapatero to collaborate as a consultant, which he does with "very intense work," he says, but nothing to do with Plus Ultra. In parallel, Calama also asks him if he has traveled with this businessman, and the former president admits it. He explains that he began to accompany him "as a friend" to Venezuela from 2019, when he went there very often due to his mediation in favor of political prisoners, and that they also went to the Dominican Republic. However, Zapatero says he does not remember if he traveled to the United Arab Emirates with Martínez. "Well, we are not talking about the Roman calendar, the United Arab Emirates is not Portugal," Calama is surprised.

The daughters' role

Regarding the role of his daughters, who were indicted by the judge this Thursday for their legal position in the company Wha The Fav, Zapatero acknowledges that he made it a condition for Julio Martínez Martínez that they should intervene through their layout company in the process of the consulting reports he prepared for Análisis Relevante. "Yes, I have supported my daughters – he says, and adds –: They work well and precisely because of who they are, they have never competed for public administration. They could have done so." At this point, Zapatero defends that the work he did was real, responded to reports and advice, he says, and also downplays the fact that his secretary, Gertrudis Alcázar, also indicted this Thursday, consulted on the concept for which she had to issue invoices to Julio Martínez's right-hand man.

The judge says: "It seems surprising to me because in the end the invoice must correspond to the work done." But Zapatero defends his secretary: "She has always acted according to my instructions. She is an excellent person and worker who has been with me since 2000." And he adds that if she asked about the object of the invoices, it is due to the wide variety of tasks she performed, from reports and advice to trips. A response that, given the events, did not convince Judge Calama.