Moncloa opens a new day this Tuesday with its eyes on the National Court. Julio Martínez Martínez, known as 'Julito' and personal friend of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, will testify from 9:00 a.m. before Judge José Luis Calama regarding the efforts related to the public rescue of 53 million euros granted to Plus Ultra.
The appearance had been scheduled since the end of June, although the scenario has completely changed in recent hours. On Monday, Martínez sent a letter to the magistrate in which he announced his intention to collaborate with justice and attributed to Zapatero the direction of the movements made to obtain financing for the airline.
His version has arrived accompanied by two other documents presented by the president of Plus Ultra, Julio Martínez Sola, and by the former financial director Roberto Roselli. Both also place the former president within the negotiations, acknowledge payments linked to the success of the operation, and explain that they resorted to 'Julito' due to his relationship with Zapatero.
The three writings open a particularly delicate morning for the defense of the former head of the Executive, who in June denied before Calama any influence in the granting of aid. The interrogation will allow to verify how far 'Julito' maintains his story when he has to answer the questions of the judge, the Prosecutor's Office, and the accusations.
From keeping silent to offering to collaborate
Martínez appeared for the first time as an investigated person after his arrest in December, although then he invoked his right not to testify because part of the procedure remained under secrecy. In April, he did the same before the Senate's investigation commission. In recent months, he maintained a strategy of silence and avoided offering a complete explanation about Análisis Relevante, the consultancy he managed and which occupies a central place in the investigation.
The turn began after Zapatero's statement and a change in his defense. The businessman ceased to be represented by Bernardo del Rosal, who alleged irreconcilable differences, and hired former prosecutor María Dolores Márquez de Prado.
In the letter presented one day before appearing, 'Julito' assures that he wants to "collaborate and contribute to the clarification of the facts." His new version reduces his own role to that of an intermediary and places Zapatero as the person who made strategic decisions and attracted clients.
Martínez maintains that Análisis Relevante was constituted in 2019 to leverage the experience, contacts, and international projection of the former president. Zapatero was formally excluded from the capital and the governing bodies of the company, although, according to the businessman, he was the one who led it in practice. "It was Mr. Rodríguez Zapatero who set the steps to follow," the document states. The businessman will have to explain this Tuesday how functions were distributed, who negotiated with clients, and what knowledge each one had about the contracts and the amounts collected.
The call that set the operation in motion
'Julito's' account begins in May 2020, when Zapatero allegedly told him in advance that he would receive a call from those responsible for Plus Ultra. The company was then in a critical situation due to the closure of air traffic during the pandemic and was seeking financing to maintain its activity.
The first objective was to obtain a loan backed by the Official Credit Institute. According to the document, Zapatero suggested resorting to Banco Santander and asked for a letter addressed to one of the entity's vice presidents to be prepared on his behalf.
That path did not prosper. The creation in July 2020 of the Fund to Support the Solvency of Strategic Companies later opened the possibility of requesting public financing through the State Society of Industrial Participations.
Martínez states that the former president remained informed about the progress of the file and continued giving instructions. The most relevant date appears on February 26, 2021, when Zapatero allegedly communicated to him that the proposal to rescue Plus Ultra had received approval.
The fund approved the operation a few days later and the Council of Ministers finally authorized the loan on March 9. The account thus places the former president in knowledge of the result before the formal processing was completed.
That statement will be one of the main questions of the interrogation. Calama may ask 'Julito' to detail how Zapatero obtained that information, who conveyed it to him, and through what conversation it later reached the company's executives.
The 1% commission acknowledged before the judge
Plus Ultra had signed a first contract with Análisis Relevante in July 2020 for 5,000 euros per month. On paper, the consultancy was to provide advisory services and prepare reports related to the company's financial situation.
The businessman now maintains that these fees actually corresponded to the advice that Zapatero had been providing since May. The investigation also questions the consistency of a part of the invoiced work, since several reports would have had scarce content or would not have been located directly.
At the beginning of 2021, another contract was prepared with Idella Consulenza Estratégica, a company linked to Martínez. The remuneration was linked to the success of the procedure before the SEPI and established the payment of 1% of the financing obtained.
With a rescue of 53 million euros, the commission amounted to 530,000 euros before taxes. 'Julito' admits the existence of that agreement and assures that the payment ended up being postponed due to the public attention generated by the rescue. The businessman maintains that the amounts were divided over several years and were invoiced through different companies related to him. Payments were to be completed during 2026.
The Police found a copy of the agreement during the search of his home. In that same operation, 286,070 euros in cash were found distributed among bags, furniture and other spaces, whose origin he will also have to explain during the statement.
Plus Ultra confirms payments, but is unaware of the arrangements
The airline's position has also changed on the eve of the interrogation. Its president and the former financial manager have sent the court two letters with a chronology very similar to that offered by 'Julito'.
Martínez Sola assures that the first contact with Zapatero occurred on April 30, 2020. The former president called him from a hidden number after the Venezuelan businessman Manuel Fajardo indicated that he could help the company. During that conversation, Zapatero would have stated that his intervention could be useful and that he would carry out the appropriate arrangements. He also pointed to 'Julito' as his trusted person and as an interlocutor for the next steps.
The executives explain that they agreed to hire the businessman and assume a high remuneration due to the desperate situation of the airline. Their interest was in the relationship he maintained with Zapatero and in the capacity they attributed to the former president to facilitate access to financing.
Martínez Sola and Roselli acknowledge that they did not have "conclusive proof" of the specific actions taken before SEPI. Nor do they claim to know what economic agreement existed internally between Zapatero and his friend.
Despite this lack of direct knowledge, both estimate the total payments and advantages delivered to companies related to Martínez at around 530,000 euros. The amount includes transfers to Análisis Relevante, Voli Analítica, and Iot Domotic Europe, and dozens of business class flights paid for by the company.
The airline has also announced an internal investigation and its willingness to collaborate with the court to clarify possible control failures during the period examined.
A version that contradicts Zapatero's statement
Zapatero appeared before Calama on June 17 and flatly denied having influenced the granting of the rescue. "I have exercised absolutely no influence in the rescue of Plus Ultra," he stated at the beginning of his declaration. The former president defended that all his professional activity had respected legality and assured that he never spoke with public sector officials about the airline's file.
He also denied having received a commission related to the 53 million and presented his income as payments for real professional services. His defense maintains that the investigation mixes different jobs and attributes a criminal nature to legal commercial relationships.
'Julito's' version now clashes with several central points of that declaration. The businessman attributes to him the capture of Plus Ultra, the design of the strategy, the monitoring of the procedures, and the anticipated communication of the outcome of the file. The company's executives also do not claim to have witnessed an intervention before the Administration, although they confirm that Zapatero offered to help and directed them towards his friend.
Calama will have to assess the consistency of these versions, check if they are supported by messages, emails, or documents, and determine if any of the investigated parties are trying to reduce their responsibility at the expense of others.
The political impact once again reaches Moncloa
The case does not investigate the Government as an institution, nor do the known writings currently attribute criminal action to the current members of the Council of Ministers. The political impact reaches Moncloa because the rescue was approved during the current period of Pedro Sánchez and because Zapatero continues to be a relevant figure within the PSOE.
The aid was authorized in March 2021 within the fund created to support companies considered strategic after the economic blow of the pandemic. The concession received criticism from the opposition from the beginning due to Plus Ultra's financial situation and its business ties with Venezuela.
The investigation opened years later studies whether a private network used political contacts to favor the airline in exchange for commissions and whether the payments were concealed through contracts, invoices, and shell companies.
Zapatero is under investigation for alleged crimes of influence peddling and other related offenses. His procedural status requires maintaining the presumption of innocence intact, while the procedure continues in the investigation phase and there is still no formal accusation for trial.
The Government has avoided turning the case into its own matter and has defended respect for judicial decisions. This Tuesday's statement will, however, once again place the former president's name and the rescue approved by the Council of Ministers at the center of the political agenda.
The questions awaiting 'Julito'
The interrogation will begin at 9:00 AM at the Audiencia Nacional. Martínez must specify what instructions he received from Zapatero, what meetings they held, how the commission was set, and who decided to distribute its collection among several companies.
He will also have to explain the payments made by Análisis Relevante to the former president and to his daughters' company. The investigation estimates that Zapatero received 490,780 euros between 2020 and 2025 and that Whathefav received another 239,755 euros. The businessman may be asked about the money found in his home, about his companies in Spain and abroad, and about the continuity of his services to Plus Ultra after the rescue, especially in Venezuela.
His statement will also allow contrasting the affirmations included in the document with the documentation seized by the UDEF and with the testimony already provided by Zapatero.
Calama will have before him the businessman who until now had remained silent and who, twenty-four hours before appearing, has decided to directly point the finger at the former president.
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