The judge in the Plus Ultra case, José Luis Calama, rectifies and now accepts to study the nullity incident raised by former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The magistrate has partially admitted the request regarding a possible violation of some of his rights. At the time, Calama rejected the nullity incident of the case because he had filed the brief "outside the 20-day period provided by law since the party had access to the proceedings". Now, however, the judge has found that some of the resolutions he asks to be annulled were notified to him later and, therefore, the deadline would not have expired for all of them.

Before the summer holidays, José Luis Calama has made a move to deepen the patrimonial investigation of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. After a new report from the UDEF, he has given the green light to a battery of information requests to follow the trail of money related to the alleged “organized and stable structure aimed at the exercise of illicit influences”. The order, which ARA has had access to, authorizes the Spanish police to access 57 accounts in twelve banks. 25 belong to the former Spanish president, his two daughters and his secretary – who are also under investigation– and Julio Martínez Martínez. The other 32 belong to companies linked to the alleged scheme. In Zapatero's case, the request is to Banco Santander, CaixaBank, and BBVA, three banks where he has six bank accounts.

Describing the PSOE's life these days is equivalent to writing the chronicle of a desolation. If it was already difficult to give full credit to the merely exculpatory initial statements of former government president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, followed by more than two months of silence, his television appearance to give explanations has only worsened the situation, especially in the political arena. In the judicial sphere, it may be different, because there are other rules of the game. The defense will play the card of requesting the nullity of the proceedings strongly, based on procedural problems and guarantees of fundamental rights. Nor is it an easy battle, but Zapatero has an experienced lawyer in this regard, Víctor Moreno Catena. He is a professor of procedural law who, for six years (1988-1994), held high positions in the Ministry of the Interior, first as technical secretary general and later as undersecretary.

Why does Zapatero take the stage to play the sad role he played, with few concrete statements, half-truths, and the intriguing nuisance of the gifted jewelry? From a judicial point of view, he insisted on recognizing the judges' final say in valuing each thing, as could not be otherwise. And in fact, he was only emphatic regarding his actions for the benefit of Plus Ultra: "It's not that I didn't influence, it's that I didn't speak to anyone." A sentence that will pass the test of validation in the courts.

When on February 21, 2024, the Civil Guard arrested him, Víctor de Aldama was president of Zamora CF and his name had never appeared related to the Spanish government. Two and a half years later, his “active” collaboration in the judicial investigations that tarnish Pedro Sánchez has turned him into a ticking time bomb for the PSOE. Not only because of the “full and continuous cooperation” with justice that has led to the "condemnation of José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García, but because, boasting of the benefits of stretching the blanket, it has become a path to follow for other people. And it is a weak point of the defense that Moncloa, under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, puts up. This very week we have had some examples. 

If there is anything that has marked the week, again, it is the Zapatero case. It began with the defense statement of businessman Julio Martínez Martínez to the National Court, in which he implicated the former Spanish president in the rescue of Plus Ultra; and it ends with Zapatero's first interview since he was charged on May 19. The former PSOE leader maintains his innocence: this Thursday he again denied any dealings with the Spanish government to obtain credit for the Venezuelan-capital airline; and explained that the jewelry was a "courtesy gift" without explaining its origin. The former president said he would explain this soon to the judge of the National Court. However, has Zapatero convinced? How does it affect Pedro Sánchez's government? See the analysis.

The president of Plus Ultra Línies Aèries, Julio Martínez Sola, and the CEO of the same entity, Roberto Rosselli, involved in the Zapatero case, have resigned from their positions. They did so while being investigated for the loan the company received during the pandemic, as reported by ACB sources and confirmed by EFE.

This Thursday is a day for anniversaries. It has been exactly 26 years since José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was elected Secretary General of the PSOE. At that time, he could not have imagined that a quarter of a century later he would be sitting on the set of "Mañaneros" on TVE, giving explanations for two serious criminal cases: one for alleged influence peddling related to the Plus Ultra bailout and another for alleged smuggling of millionaire jewelry found in the safe of his office. Why has it appeared now? In fact, the explanations, according to what he himself had announced, should have come earlier. In his first video after being indicted, he announced that he would address the media, but in light of the information that was appearing regarding his businesses, he decided to appoint a spokesperson, Luis Arroyo, president of the Ateneo de Madrid.

Javier Ruiz, with a tendency towards sensationalism and scandal, indignantly lamented the interference regarding the interview he was about to conduct with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, on Thursday at midday on Mañaneros 360: “The pressure in this studio is extraordinary. [...] The supervision is becoming unbearable. No supervision, no nonsense, on this program!”” To demonstrate this, he broadcast statements from the mayor of Madrid who anticipated qualifying the interview the presenter would conduct with him as a “bath and massage,” and warning that he knew they were friends and had recently had lunch together. The comment is proof of the PP's control over the lives of both. 

Zapatero granted an interview to TVE to give explanations, as far as he is willing to give them for reasons of procedural strategy. It is legitimate: he is the first former Spanish president to be judicially investigated, and he is so on important charges, such as criminal organization, influence peddling, and document forgery.

These are probably the most anticipated explanations in recent times. Both by public opinion, as well as by the PP and Vox opposition, and also by the Spanish government, which maintains its confidence in former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Two months after being indicted, the former PSOE leader broke his silence this Thursday in the first interview he has granted since being investigated by the National Court. And right from the start, he was clear: he maintains that he is innocent, that he has not "corrupted" himself, and that the jewels were a "courtesy gift," the origin of which he will explain to Judge José Luis Calama. In other words, Zapatero has reaffirmed that he did not exert any kind of influence over the government presided over by Pedro Sánchez for them to rescue the Plus Ultra airline during the pandemic and, in parallel, has defended that he has had no profit motive in possessing jewels valued at 1.3 million euros. Even, at one point in the interview, he went so far as to say that they were simply "there," in the safe, mixed with the family's inherited jewels.

The first word of the day must be for Josep Vallverdú, who died yesterday at 103 years old.History will speak of the Lleida writer as a celebrated author of children's and young adult novels, with Rovelló at the peak of popularity. But Vallverdú is much more than that: there are more than 200 books in Catalan written amidst prohibitions, those of a life that took place in large part between two dictatorships, that of Primo de Rivera and that of Franco, a civil war and a post-war period. Vallverdú, from the same group as Joaquim Carbó, Sebastià Sorribas, or Emili Teixidor, is one of those writers who saved our words, and for that he deserves our gratitude. From Vallverdú, I want to share with you today some wise words spoken in an interview, talking about what was to remain in the last years of life. He said: “Only affections and hopes should remain in the closet, and the stronger the affections, the closer the hopes will be to becoming a reality.” May he rest in peace, Josep Vallverdú.Meanwhile, the judicial landscape is darkening for former Spanish president Zapatero and, by extension, for the current president Sánchez, who has always supported him, because although it has not been clarified who Zapatero influenced to rescue an airline with 53 million of public money for the pandemic, what seems proven is that the company paid money, a percentage of which ended up in Zapatero's pocket, and he denied having anything to do with it. For the moment, La Moncloa continues to trust Zapatero, but in view of what is known, that trust hangs by a thread.And today the Parliament held the last control session of the Government before the holidays. President Illa has been heard to say that he has gone from “no amnesty nor anything like that” to applauding the ECJ and asking that Spanish justice comply with the law. In fact, Puigdemont, Comín and Puig have denounced Spain before the European Commission for disregarding the ECJ.But the most interesting thing was when the spokesperson for Junts, Mònica Sales, asked the president what he plans to do about the shameful state investments in Catalonia, which last year were 8.6%. And Illa's response began by acknowledging the problem.

Despite Julio Martínez's change in strategy, which implicates former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the Plus Ultra rescue, Moncloa sticks to its script. In the press conference following yesterday's council of ministers, spokesperson Elma Saiz defended the credit granted to the airline during the pandemic and, furthermore, assured that the Spanish executive "continues to maintain the presumption of innocence" of Zapatero. Saiz did not want to deviate from this: she refused to comment on the statements of Julio Martínez Martínez (alias "Julito") and also of the president of Plus Ultra, Julio Martínez Sola, who point to the former president as a key figure in the rescue, as the National Police does through UDEF, and limited herself to saying that the judicial investigation is in an early stage.

Julio Martínez Martínez has become one of the key figures in the investigation into José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. They both met in 2011, when the former president sold him a house in Almeria, they became friends and got fond of going out running together. The UDEF believes he was his frontman. 24 hours after disrupting Zapatero's defense strategy by assuring that he was the one who “marked the steps to follow” in the Plus Ultra rescue, the businessman has spent four hours testifying before Judge José Luis Calama as a suspect and has fully ratified the confession about the former president's intervention. Despite this, he said he does not know who he influenced or with whom he spoke for the airline to receive public aid. Sources present at the declaration explain to ARA that he recounted that he simply relayed to Zapatero what clients told him, that he did not get involved in the actions he took, and that he did not report to him if he was going to see anyone.

"The rule of law must reward with the instruments provided for in the legislation those relevant behaviors that affect the discovery and accreditation of crimes of gravity for the democratic system." This fragment of the Supreme Court ruling that sentenced José Luis Ábalos to 24 years in prison was much more than a reduction of the penalty for Víctor Aldama for his collaboration with justice. It was a call to defendants who might find themselves in a similar situation to "sing La traviata"; to speak in favor of the investigation in exchange for the main prize.

When the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the Koldo case, at the end of June, in which it sentenced former minister and former organization secretary of the PSOE José Luis Ábalos and his advisor Koldo García to heavy prison sentences but benefited the main beneficiary of the mask fraud, Víctor de Aldama, alarm bells already began to ring. The suspension of the four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the corrupter, replaced by community service, was justified by the businessman's cooperation in uncovering the fraud, which, according to the court, had been crucial in proving the accusations. However, this reward for the corrupter in exchange for denouncing his partners was controversial, firstly because not everyone saw it as justified within the same legal framework, and secondly because it was interpreted as a green light for others to follow the same path. This is precisely what seems to be starting to happen.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero denied a month ago, before the National High Court judge José Luis Calama, having exercised "the slightest influence" in the public rescue of Plus Ultra. The version he has presented, less than a day before testifying before the same magistrate as an investigated party, the businessman Julio Martínez Martínez, considered by investigators to be the "lieutenant" of the former Spanish president in the scheme, calls into question the former socialist leader. In a document sent to the National High Court, Martínez Martínez states that Plus Ultra paid 1% of the rescue amount, which amounted to 53 million euros, as "fees" for Zapatero "acting as an intermediary in obtaining public aid". This money was channeled through a business network in Martínez's name. "In his role as a consultant, Mr. Rodríguez Zapatero was the one who set the steps to follow," he assures regarding the former socialist leader's role in the rescue.

On May 19, early in the morning, a piece of news exploded like an unexpected shell: a judge from the National High Court charged José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as the alleged leader of an influence peddling scheme. A month later, he, who in recent years has been Pedro Sánchez's loyal squire and guardian, testified before José Luis Calama for almost three hours and denied all suspicions root and branch. But he left one topic unaddressed: the jewelry worth 1.3 million euros that the Spanish police found in the safe of his office. A week later, the UDEF opened a new avenue and suggested that Zapatero received 200,000 euros for influencing in Bolivia in favor of a Peruvian company. Since then, leaks and complaints from the former Spanish president's defense have been the only news in a case shrouded in many unknowns. From that moment on, and despite the lingering questions, Moncloa maintains its unwavering support for the former Spanish president and Pedro Sánchez reiterates his "confidence" in him.

The National High Court judge José Luis Calama is not the only one investigating José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The Tax Agency also is. A communication sent by the Spanish Treasury to the magistrate reveals that less than a month ago it opened a tax investigation against the former Spanish president and his family. Specifically, the Tax Agency initiated the inspection against Zapatero on June 15 of this year, when he was already implicated in the National High Court for influence peddling, criminal organization, and document forgery and a few days after it opened a separate case for the jewelry found in his office. On the same day, another tax investigation was opened against his wife, Sonsoles Espinosa.

1. Nobody should read what Zapatero and his secretary said to each other on WhatsApp. Nobody should know how Koldo paid for Ábalos's sexual services. Nobody should have looked at the message in which Rajoy told Bárcenas “aguanta, Luis”. Nobody should have heard Minister Fernández Díaz assuring the director of Antifrau the “esto te lo afina la Fiscalía”. Nobody should have heard what Victoria Álvarez and Alícia Sánchez-Camacho were plotting at La Camarga. Nobody was supposed to do anything, in operation Volhov, whether Puigdemont believed or not that 10,000 Russian soldiers would come to help us in the grave hours. Nobody could suspect that Cospedal would order an investigation into whatever about Junqueras's brother. Nobody should have seen the trap video of Exuperancia Rapú with Pedro Jota. Nobody should have heard how Florentino Pérez belittled Mourinho in a conversation from years ago. Nobody had the right to read what Rubiales and Piqué said to each other in the Arab concession of the Super Cup. Nobody has anything to say about the venereal diseases that Bill Gates hid from his wife. Nobody had to know the criteria for granting positions according to Lluís Salvadó. Nobody should have seen Estefania de Monaco making love by the pool. Nobody needed to know that Zapatero – Zapatero again – confessed to Oriol Mitjà that Minister Illa was failing in managing the pandemic. Nobody should listen to Jonathan Andic's call to 112 to warn that his father had fallen off a cliff. Nobody should know what the Andic family and the alleged therapist said to each other, especially now that we have learned that she was not even registered as a psychologist but, on the other hand, she was dedicated to emotionally tidying up the lives of various rich people in the country, in exchange for an arm and a leg.