Julio Martínez to testify that Zapatero directed Plus Ultra rescue and received commissions, contradicting ex-PM's denial

The cooperation statement

Julio Martínez Martínez, the businessman described by investigators as Zapatero's frontman, submitted a six-page written statement to Judge José Luis Calama on Monday, announcing his intention to "collaborate" with the investigation. The document, presented by his lawyer María Dolores Márquez de Prado, directly contradicts Zapatero's testimony of 17 June, in which the former prime minister denied any role in the rescue of Plus Ultra. Martínez Martínez claims that Zapatero was the one who "marked the steps to follow" in securing the €53 million public bailout.

I have not exerted any influence in the rescue of Plus Ultra [...] that is an unquestionable truth.

The statement asserts that Zapatero was involved from the creation of the consultancy Análisis Relevante in late 2019, which served as a vehicle to channel payments. Martínez Martínez says he met Zapatero in 2011 through executive Javier de Paz, and that the consultancy was set up with Zapatero as its "main consultant" and "principal reference."

The Plus Ultra rescue timeline

The airline's president, Julio Martínez Sola, also submitted a cooperation statement, placing the first contact with Zapatero in April 2020, nearly a year before the rescue was approved. On 9 March 2021, the Council of Ministers granted Plus Ultra a rescue package of €53 million from the FASEE fund, consisting of a €19 million ordinary loan (disbursed on 18 March) and a €34 million participatory loan (injected on 10 August 2021). Plus Ultra was one of six airlines to receive aid from the €890 million fund.

Mr. Martínez Sola had a call with him [Zapatero] in 2020, in which he was told that the interlocutor would be Julio Martínez Martínez.

Martínez Sola's statement confirms that the payments to Martínez Martínez's companies were a cover for the true nature of the services: Zapatero's influence over the SEPI, the state holding company managing the fund.

The Aldama precedent

The cooperation strategy mirrors that of Víctor de Aldama, the main middleman in the Koldo case, who received a reduced sentence of four and a half years after confessing and detailing his dealings with former minister José Luis Ábalos. The Supreme Court's ruling in that case emphasized that corruption crimes "can only be effectively investigated and repressed through a strong internal control or an internal whistleblower." Martínez Martínez, facing charges of influence peddling, criminal organization, document falsification, and money laundering, is seeking a similar reduction.

Undermining the lawfare defense

Zapatero's defense had argued that the investigation was politically motivated lawfare, pointing to alleged irregularities in the seizure of a phone belonging to Plus Ultra shareholder Rodolfo Reyes in the United States. However, the three businessmen's written statements have preempted those challenges by acknowledging the facts. Martínez Sola explicitly confirmed that the phone's contents reflect reality, and Martínez Martínez's admission that he acted as a mere frontman for Zapatero undercuts claims of a conspiracy. The government of Pedro Sánchez, which had relied on the lawfare narrative to defend its "moral and political referent," now faces a direct contradiction from within the case.

Financial trail and family payments

The UDEF reports detail that Zapatero and his daughters, Laura and Alba Rodríguez Espinosa, received over €2 million between 2020 and 2025 through a network of shell companies referred to by those involved as the "finance boutique." Martínez Martínez's statement is expected to detail how each invoice and payment was structured to disguise the true purpose. The commission for the Plus Ultra rescue alone is estimated at around €530,000. Zapatero had claimed his work for Análisis Relevante was legitimate consulting, but Martínez Martínez now says the former prime minister was the "brain and shadow owner" of the firm.