Plus Ultra paid 530,000 euros to the Zapatero group for the state rescue

Only what is already proven in the investigation of the Plus Ultra case should have at least political consequences. The airline's senior executives have confirmed in court this week the payment to what they call the Zapatero group of 530,000 euros (without VAT) as a 1% commission for having helped in the state rescue of 53 million euros.

The recipient of the money, Julio Martínez Martínez -alias Julito-, Zapatero's intermediary, confirms having received the money. And the Tax Agency has verified that the former leader of the PSOE himself collected 490,780 euros from the ineffable Relevant Analysis - the company hired by Plus Ultra and managed by Julito - while his daughters pocketed another 239,755 euros. This nauseating payment circuit was also carried out with public money, since Plus Ultra notified Sepi that, among the suppliers it had to pay as soon as it received the ransom, there was Relevant Analysis, as this newspaper published. Plus Ultra had a cash deficit of 48 million and could only meet Julito with borrowed state money.

That is to say, it is already proven that Plus Ultra paid the equivalent of 1% of the ransom to Martínez and that he transferred a similar figure to Zapatero, with the additional horror that it is money of public origin transferred to Plus Ultra from the Fund to Support the Solvency of Strategic Companies by agreement of the Council of Ministers chaired by Pedro Sánchez. Three of the four main protagonists recognize the facts. The former president of Plus Ultra, Julio Martínez Sola, and the former CEO, Roberto Roselli, confirm that the payment was in exchange for "the Zapatero group" helping them to rescue Sánchez. And Julito maintains that, in effect, he received the money for that and that the person who took the steps to earn such a commission was Zapatero. The latter is the only one who denies this story. He admits the payments to himself and his daughters, but maintains that it was in exchange for reports on world geopolitics that he provided to Relevant Analysis.

The directors of Plus Ultra describe these reports as a cover that they did not even read, but it remains to be clarified whether Zapatero took steps to obtain the rescue and what collusion he had in the Government. For now, only what is accredited dirtyes one of the instruments that Brussels approved to the Executive to help companies in the pandemic. However, Sánchez does not see a scandal and, despite the payment circuit verified by the Tax Agency itself, he played down the issue in his interview last Wednesday on TVE and even said he would count on Zapatero for future rallies. He sees no objection to preaching the social policy of the PSOE in the electoral campaign who, at the very least, has worked for a commission agent of a company rescued by his party and that is without counting the episode of the jewels. He defends his predecessor, because, among other things, if rigging is proven in the rescue, the person ultimately responsible is the president.

Zapatero's version implies believing that Plus Ultra would have paid the plot naively and for doing nothing. However, many accredited elements also show that the airline needed some sponsor before the Government. On the one hand, the independent commercial expert who analyzed its accounts, Pedro Martín Molina, maintains that the company was already in crisis before the pandemic and, therefore, could not receive state aid. The difficulty of considering an airline that only accredited a fleet of four aircraft "strategic" for Spain was also made evident in 2021. On the other hand, the investigating judge, José Luis Calama, questions whether he met another requirement, that of being up to date with Social Security payments, due to the conflicting data detected by the judicial police. And if that were not enough, the judge has focused in recent weeks on what this newspaper published last July and that is whether Plus Ultra met the number one criterion, that of being a Spanish company, since the two former directors of Plus Ultra attribute real and effective control of the company to the Venezuelan, Rodolfo Reyes.

Only with what is already known and waiting for the end of the investigation, some self-criticism and measure should now encourage the PSOE, but Sánchez hid on TVE that the accused "have the right to lie in their statements before the judges." And he added: "I hope everything can be clarified." That, let's see if it can be done and with everyone's collaboration.