The Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) points out that, although the office of former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero would be the operations center of the alleged influence trafficking network, his home “stands out as an ideal space for channeling and safeguarding the strategic planning of instructions involving greater sensitivity.” The Police detect a “logistical pattern” in the reception of shipments at the residence, such as boxes of wine. The UDEF asked Judge José Luis Calama to order the search of the house, but the judge rejected it. However, he did order the search of his office, where agents found necklaces, bracelets, watches, and earrings in a safe that the secretaries attributed to an “inheritance from Mrs. Sonsoles” and “travel gifts.” Meanwhile, the UDEF continues to seek the certificate proving that Plus Ultra was up to date with Social Security payments for its workers when it requested the bailout, an essential requirement for it to be legal. EL PAÍS has also accessed messages seized from Plus Ultra executives in which company leaders Julio Martínez Sola and Rodolfo Reyes confess: “Zapatero rules here,” referring to his influence in Venezuela.
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The UDEF seizes a contract with Chinese tech company Huawei from Zapatero’s daughters’ company
During the search of their offices last Tuesday, agents from the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) seized a contract dated October 20, 2020, between Zapatero’s daughters’ company, What The Fav, and the Chinese tech company Huawei. The marketing agency previously boasted on its website, now modified, of working with the company. Agents consider this contract to be “of interest to the case,” although the judge did not mention it in the former president’s indictment order.
The Swiss operator and “the Chinese” pressured the network to buy batches of 50,000 tons of Venezuelan oil
Philip Apikian, a “Swiss oil trader,” and a company from the Chinese Communist Party pressured for weeks for the network to help close a deal with the Venezuelan government for the purchase and sale of petcoke, a byproduct of crude oil refining that has value as fuel. This emerges from one of the UDEF reports on the Plus Ultra investigation. Agents accessed conversations between businessman Julio Martínez Martínez and the Amaro Chacón brothers revealing their influence on negotiations. “Philippe Apikian and the Chinese ready to buy ships. Ready to travel to meet the Lady [Delcy Rodríguez, according to agents] and the Minister of Petroleum, but they need information on what product the letter of intent is made for. The Lady manages the direct allocation of ships,” one interlocutor says. “Yes. They are ready to buy. They pressured all December,” replies the other.
The report also includes two letters sent by the interested parties. One from the Chinese company International Cultural Technology Resource Group Co Ltd addressed to former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s office, expressing interest in “obtaining information about governments, public sector companies, and individuals regarding raw materials.” The other letter, dated January 23, 2024, addressed to a generic recipient and “signed by Philip Apikian on behalf of Swissoil Trading S. A.,” indicates interest in buying “petcoke from Venezuela in batches of 50,000 tons.”
The Police copied the email account of Zapatero’s daughters and several of their employees
The Police copied the email account of Zapatero’s daughters, Laura and Alba, as well as several of their employees, during the search of their offices last Tuesday. Additionally, agents from the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) copied the contents of several computers and a cloud storage account. The search took place in the presence of the two administrators of What The Fav, a marketing agency identified in the investigation as acting as a shell company to channel funds.
The Police continue searching for a key document of the Plus Ultra bailout: the certificate that the airline had no debts with Social Security
The Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the National Police continues to seek a key document to determine if the bailout of the airline Plus Ultra complied with legality. It is the certificate proving that the airline was, at the time it requested aid in September 2020, up to date with Social Security payments for its workers. This was an essential requirement to qualify for government aid.
The Police requested it last December from the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI, an agency under the Ministry of Finance managing the aid), but the documentation sent in response did not include this document. In fact, agents complained to the judge that the file SEPI sent contained “empty folders” and computer files that “cannot be opened.” Therefore, the UDEF requested the information again from the finance agency, whose response also did not satisfy investigators.
Consequently, on May 14, the police proposed searching for the document elsewhere, specifically at Deloitte’s offices, which had advised the airline during the aid application and referenced the document in its legal report. Investigators concluded it should be in the report delivered on February 26, 2021, to Plus Ultra to be included in the bailout file. The Police asked Judge Calama, besides the searches at former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s office and various companies, to request Deloitte to provide this document.
The police insist on this point because when the airline formally applied for the bailout, it included certificates dated a few days earlier, in August of that year, stating the airline had no outstanding “claims for overdue debts with Social Security.” This allowed the file to proceed and the 53 million aid to be approved. However, the UDEF now highlights that information from the Social Security Treasury points in the opposite direction, indicating the company “had an outstanding debt at that time,” though the amount is unspecified. The Police aimed to clarify this discrepancy with all documentation.
The ‘Plus Ultra case’
Expansion | Jewelry, watches, and computers: what the police seized from Zapatero’s office
Agents from the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) entered José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s office on Ferraz Street in Madrid at 8:35 a.m. last Tuesday, May 19. According to the search record accessed by EL PAÍS, it is an office with five rooms, three empty rooms, two bathrooms, a kitchenette, and a meeting room. Inside were the two secretaries, Gertrudis Alcázar and Laure Well Sutton. In one of the rooms, used by the chief of staff, there was a safe that, according to the former president’s secretaries, came from the home of him and his wife, Sonsoles Espinosa. Inside were several necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, watches, and two hard drives. According to Alcázar, the jewelry was an “inheritance from Mrs. Sonsoles” and “travel gifts.”
You can read the full information here
Gold export, oil trading, or “physical product delivery”: the alleged businesses of Julio Martínez with the Venezuelan brothers since 2021
The Plus Ultra case investigation reveals that the alleged business between businessman Julio Martínez Martínez and Domingo Amaro Chacón in Venezuelan oil trading is not limited to deals closed between late 2023 and early 2024, in which a Chinese Communist Party company and a “Swiss trader” tried to buy crude oil thanks to former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s intervention in the Venezuelan government. A UDEF document indicates that the “commercial link” extends at least since September 2021, based on an analysis of messages exchanged between them. Agents list several alleged operations: “One gold export,” sale of Qwant shares, “successive conversion of cash euros into other currencies in Caracas,” or “implementation of a route for physical product delivery” “amounting to several million.”
Similarly, the document cites other projects they discussed, also according to intercepted conversations: the business of “the Egyptians,” referring to the “Minerven Project and La Tortuga Project,” “the plans of Los del Desierto” (specifically mentioning “officializing diplomatic relations with the opening of the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Venezuela”), another called “Commercialization of Amarillo,” which agents say is a “presumed reference to gold,” and the “Western Atlas Resources project,” also known as the Loma de Niquel project.
The UDEF points to Zapatero’s house as the scene of the “most sensitive” “instructions”
The Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the National Police points out that, although former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s office on Ferraz Street in Madrid would be the operations center of the alleged influence trafficking network, his home “stands out as an ideal space for channeling and safeguarding the strategic planning of instructions involving greater sensitivity.”
The Police reach this conclusion because, “based on the content of the analyzed emails, it is inferred that not all instructions are formalized by email and, therefore, alternative communication channels would be used for their transmission.” They specifically observe a “logistical pattern” in the reception of shipments and dispatches at Zapatero’s home. They detail the sending of boxes of wine.
Additionally, the UDEF adds that, “considering the profile of the investigated and having detected this supervision and control within the organized network, it could be inferred that the core of planning and direction would not be limited to the office but would move to the vicinity of his residence, where he would have greater privacy and control of information.”
For investigators, “the use of the office as a formal communication channel through Gertru (the former president’s personal secretary), the interposition of third parties, as well as Zapatero’s constant mobility, evidence a distributed functional structure, not limited to a single space but forged complementarily in the office and his home.”
The UDEF asked the National Court judge investigating the Plus Ultra case, José Luis Calama, to order the search of Zapatero’s house, but the judge rejected it, considering it neither useful nor proportionate. However, he did order the search of his office.
Jewelry found in Zapatero’s office, in images from the entry and search record.
The police seized documents, computers, jewelry, and watches from Zapatero’s office
Agents from the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) entered José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s office on Ferraz Street in Madrid at 8:35 a.m. last Tuesday, May 19. According to the search record accessed by EL PAÍS, it is an office with five rooms, three empty rooms, two bathrooms, a kitchenette, and a meeting room. Inside were the two secretaries, Gertrudis Alcázar and Judith Well Sutton. In one of the rooms, used by the chief of staff, there was a safe that, according to the former president’s secretaries, came from the home of him and his wife, Sonsoles Espinosa. Inside were several necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, watches, and two hard drives. According to Alcázar, the jewelry was an “inheritance from Mrs. Sonsoles” and “travel gifts.”
In the secretaries’ office, 17 agendas, 18 folders with documents, two handwritten sheets, at least two USB drives, a hard drive, and a mobile phone were seized. Agents downloaded files and emails from two computers, one used by each secretary. Most of the downloaded email addresses were corporate PSOE accounts.
EL PAÍS accesses the Plus Ultra case file: “Zapatero rules here”
EL PAÍS accesses the investigation file in which former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is being investigated. The Police seized various messages from Plus Ultra executives from late 2020. In one of these conversations, company leaders Julio Martínez Sola and Rodolfo Reyes confess: “Zapatero rules here,” explicitly referring to his influence in Venezuela. The file includes new police reports insisting that “the network’s leadership would be held by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.”
Judge José Luis Calama requests all emails from Zapatero and his daughters since 2020
Judge José Luis Calama has issued a warrant to a tech company to deliver all emails from 2020 to the present, both from the official email of the president used by his secretary and those of his daughters.
Ciudadanos requests to join the Plus Ultra case to exercise popular prosecution
The political party Ciudadanos has requested to join as popular prosecution in the Plus Ultra case, in which former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is investigated as the alleged leader of an influence trafficking network. National Court judge José Luis Calama has demanded a 5,000-euro bond from the party, the same amount required from other organizations that have requested to join.
According to an order from last Friday, three popular prosecutions —PP, Vox, and Hazte Oír— are already joined, while five others, including Manos Limpias, are pending payment of bonds or procedural corrections. Calama has also asked the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the joined parties to consider grouping the popular prosecutions, as was done in the Koldo case.
Ciudadanos recalls that it already denounced the 53 million aid to Plus Ultra in 2021, considering the airline did not meet the requirements. The party’s lawyer, Carlos Carrizosa, stated that the joining responds to “a firm commitment to defending the rule of law and pursuing any alleged corruption network.” (Efe)
Felipe González, this Monday during the business meeting in Valencia. / Rober Solsona / Europa Press
Felipe González: “There should be elections this year”
Former Prime Minister Felipe González has expressed that there should be elections “this year” and defended “non-mercenary leadership, one exercised not for personal benefit but for others.” He said this in Valencia during a dialogue at a meeting of the Valencian Business Association (AVE), where he repeatedly referred to the lack of approval of the General State Budgets. “We should respect the infantry, as García-Page would say,” he said when asked if general elections should be called.
Regarding the indictment of former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, González admitted that “the order impressed him greatly” and stated that the situation “affects us as a country, as a party, and as individuals.” Nevertheless, he defended Zapatero’s presumption of innocence and expressed doubts about his capacity to orchestrate the network: “I don’t see him capable of setting up a financial engineering like the one I’m seeing” nor of knowing “what an offshore company is.”
González considered Zapatero’s right to defend himself “absolutely indisputable” and praised the judge’s “extraordinarily guarantor” actions. He also advised the PP: if he were in that party, he would not present a motion of no confidence “because we would stop talking about this to talk about the motion of no confidence.”
Vox criticizes Moreno Bonilla for not calling to negotiate the Andalusian government and demands “humility”
Vox has criticized the acting president of the Andalusian Regional Government, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, for not calling to negotiate a government pact and has asked him to have “humility.” “Eight days have passed since Andalusians voted, and Manuel Gavira [Vox spokesperson in the Andalusian parliament] is still waiting for Mr. Moreno Bonilla’s call,” said the party’s national spokesperson, José Antonio Fúster. He recommended the Andalusian president ask his Extremaduran counterpart, María Guardiola, with whom he coincided Monday at the Carlos V award ceremony in Yuste (Cáceres), who “was lucky” to negotiate a coalition government with Vox, according to his words. “She will tell you how easy it is to negotiate with Vox amicably and how badly we react to blackmail and pressure,” he warned. Fúster asked Moreno for “common sense, humility, and work to build an alternative” and added: “We have a mafia government in La Moncloa, and we have no time to lose.” The PP fell two seats short of an absolute majority, and although Moreno expressed his desire to govern alone, he needs the support or at least abstention of two Vox deputies or the left to be invested. Although Fúster urged the Andalusian president to start negotiating, he showed less urgency to close an agreement in Castilla y León, which held elections on March 15. He only said the negotiation “is going well” and justified the delay due to the Andalusian campaign.
The PP considers that Zapatero “needed” the current Council of Ministers to “commit crimes”
PP spokesperson Borja Sémper has stated that former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero would have needed the current Council of Ministers to “commit crimes” in the Plus Ultra case. “The alleged crimes that the UDEF attributes to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero are not only those of a former prime minister but allegedly those of a former prime minister who needed the current Council of Ministers to commit crimes (…) because those who approved the bailout, among other things, of 53 million euros to Plus Ultra were the ministers of the current government,” criticized the PP spokesperson.
Sémper insisted on calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez: “In any modern democracy comparable to ours, this episode alone would have caused the immediate resignation of the prime minister or, at least, clear and forceful explanations. In any other time of Spanish democracy, not to mention other countries, this would probably have been the scandal of the legislature. However, it seems to go unnoticed, buried among many other corruption cases surrounding and harassing Pedro Sánchez.”
Sémper responds to Esteban: “The Basque Nationalist Party now has the opportunity to be consistent with what its president said”
PP spokesperson Borja Sémper responded to Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) president Aitor Esteban, who on Sunday asked Pedro Sánchez to call elections before the end of the year. “The Basque Nationalist Party now has the opportunity to be consistent with what its president said,” Sémper said at a press conference at the party headquarters after the weekly executive committee meeting. Still, the PP maintains it will not present a motion of no confidence and will not call the PNV for now to propose that, in that scenario, it would be instrumental; that is, to call general elections immediately afterward. They try to return the pressure to Esteban’s group. “If the Basque Nationalist Party truly believes that prolonging this situation is irresponsible, the PNV must accept that continuing to support this situation is also irresponsible. Words alone are not enough. Declarations are not enough; steps must be taken,” added Sémper. However, the PP leaves the door open to the motion. “That is a tool we have never renounced nor will renounce,” the spokesperson assured. Privately, sources from Génova add: “This is just beginning. If they want, they can call us.” In any case, Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s office does not want the “focus” to shift from judicial cases to the motion of no confidence. “Get comfortable and enjoy the ride.”
Eva García Sempere and Eduardo Rubiño hold a press conference representing the four organizations of the political space formed by Movimiento Sumar, Comuns, Más Madrid, and Izquierda Unida. / Samuel Sánchez
Sempere (IU), on the proposal for early elections: “We find it irresponsible that some forces suggest these issues”
The federal Organization head of IU, Eva García Sempere, criticized forces like PNV, Coalición Canaria, and even Junts for suggesting the possibility of early elections after former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s indictment. “We will not open the door to the far right. We find it irresponsible that some political forces suggest these issues. There is room to work,” said the party’s number two at a joint press conference of the Sumar formations in government. Sempere supported advancing the lobby law in Congress, stalled in the lower house.
“The PNV will have to explain if it prefers Mr. Abascal to govern or not. We are here to raise the minimum wage, pensions, manage the hantavirus crisis as the minister did. We are in government for that and much more. It is useful,” defended Eduardo Rubiño, deputy spokesperson of Más Madrid in the city council. The councilor acknowledged understanding the shock in socialist ranks but distanced himself from the former socialist leader. “Many of us started political activism against Zapatero’s government and its cuts. That led many young people to protest in the last stage,” he said.
A former Zapatero minister says he is surprised that he could have built “such a structure” because he considers him “quite incapable”
César Antonio Molina, Culture Minister under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero from 2007 to 2009, expressed surprise that the former president could have allegedly “built such a corruption structure” linked to the Plus Ultra case. “I am not surprised that corruption reappears, but that he was capable of organizing it,” he said in an interview on Telecinco.
Molina described Zapatero as “quite incapable in the Council of Ministers” and recalled clashes with former Vice President Pedro Solbes during the 2008 crisis, when the former president acted “as if speaking through a divine voice.” “It is difficult for a person without any merit to become prime minister,” he concluded.
The former minister added that, as the PSOE turned Zapatero into a “saint” and example “of everything the new socialism meant,” the “explosion of the bomb is even greater.” (Europa Press)
Sánchez says he is calm after Zapatero’s indictment and the PNV’s call for early elections
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Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez denies unease after former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s indictment and after parliamentary partners like the PNV warned to call early elections. Asked if he is calm, he assured “yes, of course,” in a brief statement to the media after presenting the Social Climate Plan at Espacio Rastro in Madrid.
Similarly, Moncloa sources assure “maximum calm” in the Executive after PNV president Aitor Esteban’s words, who on Sunday said it would be “irresponsible” for Sánchez to continue “beyond 2026, without direction, without budgets, without a stable majority, and with an uncontrolled and judicialized agenda,” as he stated at an event in Durango (Vizcaya).
Moncloa avoids confrontation and says it respects his opinion but does not share it and is confident about the legislature’s development, expected to end in 2027, as Sánchez indicated last Wednesday in Congress. This was to dispel any rumors of early elections after Zapatero’s indictment for alleged influence trafficking and criminal organization. (Efe)
The Basque PP responds to the PNV and assures Sánchez “has no reason to worry” because the jeltzales will not break with him
Basque PP president Javier de Andrés considered that Pedro Sánchez “has no reason to worry” because the PNV “still has its best partner,” responding to EBB jeltzale president Aitor Esteban’s words, who said yesterday it would be “irresponsible” to continue beyond 2026 “without direction, without budgets, without a stable majority, and with an uncontrolled and judicialized agenda.”
For De Andrés, Esteban’s criticisms about “Socialist Party corruption and all the Zapatero mess” show that the PNV “knows what kind of partner Pedro Sánchez is, but in no way that it will break with him.” The Basque popular leader added that “what Esteban hid yesterday is that the PSOE is really again its partner for the next municipal and regional elections, and it needs and counts on it.” (Efe)
PP and Vox Madrid call for Sánchez’s resignation over Zapatero while Más Madrid admits that earning “hundreds of thousands” is “incompatible with leftist values”
PP and Vox have again demanded Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s resignation after former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s indictment in the Plus Ultra case, while PSOE and Más Madrid have called for presumption of innocence. The exchange occurred at the press conference after the Board of Spokespersons meeting.
PP deputy spokesperson Ainhoa García Jabonero said Sánchez is “silent, crouched” in Moncloa “waiting for the storm to pass.” Vox spokesperson Isabel Pérez Moñino added cases of Ábalos, Koldo, Santos Cerdán, and Zapatero to conclude that “Spain can’t take any more.”
PSOE spokesperson Mar Espinar asked for “respect for justice” and insisted on presumption of innocence. But Más Madrid spokesperson Manuela Bergerot delivered the most uncomfortable message for the socialist environment: although defending presumption of innocence, she admitted that “it is not normal for a former president to earn hundreds of thousands of euros advising companies.” “It is unacceptable and incompatible with leftist values,” she concluded. (Europa Press)
Baldoví sets as a “red line” to break with Sánchez that there is illegal PSOE financing
Compromís spokesperson in Les Corts Valencianes, Joan Baldoví, has marked as a “red line” for the Valencian coalition to break with Pedro Sánchez’s government the existence of “illegal financing” of the PSOE. “If there is any hint of illegal financing of the PSOE, for us that would indeed be a red line,” he stressed in statements to the media.
However, regarding former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s indictment in the Plus Ultra case, Baldoví asked for “prudence” and preferred to wait for the full reading of the file and his testimony as an indicted person on June 2. “There are things we don’t like, there are dark areas we don’t like,” he admitted but insisted that Zapatero “must provide absolute clarity” in his appearance before Judge José Luis Calama. (Europa Press)
The ultra-conservative association Hazte Oír asks the judge to indict Zapatero’s daughters and wife, and also Ábalos and Koldo
The ultra-conservative association Hazte Oír has requested Judge José Luis Calama to summon the two daughters and wife of former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as investigated in the Plus Ultra case. In a document accessed by Europa Press, the association argues that the former president’s daughters “appear as joint administrators and partners” of Whathefav, the marketing company qualified by the judge as “a finalist element of the network and a center for redistributing economic flows.”
Regarding Zapatero’s wife, Sonsoles Espinosa, Hazte Oír points out that she appears as co-holder of the bank account to which Análisis Relevante transferred 490,780 euros between 2020 and 2025, making her a “beneficiary of funds allegedly obtained through criminal activity.” For the daughters, it sees alleged crimes of money laundering, receiving stolen goods, and necessary cooperation in influence trafficking; for Espinosa, being a beneficiary.
The association also requests to summon former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García, both in provisional prison awaiting sentence for the mask case, as well as nearly a dozen ministers of the Council of Ministers who approved the bailout in March 2021, including Pablo Iglesias, Arancha González Laya, and Alberto Garzón. (Europa Press)
The Plus Ultra case intersects with the mask case: a company in the network paid 300,000 euros to a company linked to Aldama
The company Apamate Corporate and Trust, appearing in the Plus Ultra case for a 120,000-euro consultancy contract with Análisis Relevante, the company of Zapatero’s alleged “frontman” Julio Martínez Martínez, paid 300,000 euros to Deluxe Fortune, a company related to the Koldo case’s commission agent Víctor de Aldama and used for collecting commissions for mask contracts during the pandemic. This is recorded by the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) in one of its reports included in the case investigating Zapatero as the alleged leader of an influence trafficking network.
The UDEF has also detected “signs of artificiality” in the analyzed contracts and invoices: documents with different dates but identical numbering, and clauses copied from contracts signed with Plus Ultra, although for amounts “almost double.” (Efe)
María Guardiola, on Zapatero’s indictment: “Sánchez’s government is finished and should call elections”
The president of the Extremadura Regional Government, María Guardiola, considers that former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s indictment in the Plus Ultra case is “quite regrettable” and is “damaging” Spain’s image. “It is unprecedented for a president to be indicted,” she stressed in an interview on Canal Extremadura TV.
Guardiola harshly criticized Zapatero, whom she described as “the moral beacon of the left,” and stated that Judge Calama’s order shows the former president “had few scruples and was willing to give a lot of public money to his friends to get commissions.”
The PP leader took the opportunity to demand elections: “Pedro Sánchez’s government is finished, it is over, and he should have resigned long ago.” She concluded that “what is happening in Spain would not happen in any European democracy.” (Europa Press)
Pablo Fernández (Podemos): “Our goal is to prevent a PP and Vox government”
Podemos spokesperson Pablo Fernández stated that the party’s “fundamental” goal is “to prevent a government of the Popular Party and Vox,” clearing any doubt about hypothetical support for a motion of no confidence, even to call elections immediately afterward, although he rejected the Zapatero case as an example of judicial persecution. “As we have been saying, it looks very bad, and I think today it can be asserted that we are not facing a lawfare case. It is indisputable that there are behaviors not tolerable on the left,” added Fernández, who, however, said in the same press conference that “behind all this are very clear political intentions.” “We are very clear that both media and judicial operators of the right and far right will take advantage of all these situations to try to bring down (…) But precisely for that, a brave transformative left, a clean transformative left, and a transformative left capable of stopping PP and Vox are needed.”
The PNV reiterates it will not support Sánchez but warns that does not mean backing Feijóo
PNV spokesperson in the Basque Parliament, Joseba Díez Antxustegi, clarified that the fact that his party does not support President Pedro Sánchez “at this moment” does not mean it intends to back PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo. “Not being with Sánchez does not mean, at all, that we will support Feijóo,” he stressed in an interview on ETB-1.
The jeltzale spokesperson referred to PNV president Aitor Esteban’s words, who on Sunday considered it “irresponsible” for the legislature to continue beyond 2026. Díez Antxustegi pointed to the seriousness of the situation: the Plus Ultra case not only affects the party but “there are suspicions in the government itself,” which “puts its continuity in a very difficult situation.”
Still, he ruled out rupture scenarios: “One thing is to be very critical of Sánchez, and a very different thing is to talk about a motion of no confidence or to promote other hypotheses. That will not happen,” he concluded. (Efe)
Chivite, on Zapatero’s indictment: “Respect for judicial procedure and presumption of innocence”
Navarre Regional Government president María Chivite has shown “respect for the judicial procedure” after former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s indictment in the Plus Ultra case. Chivite limited herself to hoping “the investigation continues and evidence is presented on the table under presumption of innocence,” in statements to the media before attending the reopening of the Olite parador, the same event attended by Minister Jordi Hereu, who also asked today for respect for presumption of innocence. (Europa Press)
Hereu asks for “respect for presumption of innocence” after Zapatero’s indictment
Industry and Tourism Minister Jordi Hereu asked Monday for “respect for the judicial process, justice, and also presumption of innocence” regarding former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s indictment in the Plus Ultra case. The minister was one of the first government members to comment on a case investigating an alleged influence trafficking network linked to the public bailout of 53 million euros to the airline.
In statements to the media in Olite, where he attended the reopening of the local parador, Hereu expressed confidence that “all facts will be clarified in due time.” “I believe that for now we must defend the presumption of innocence,” the minister insisted when asked by journalists. Zapatero is scheduled to testify before Judge José Luis Calama of the National Court on June 2. (Europa Press)
The ‘Plus Ultra case’
Graphics | This is how Zapatero and Plus Ultra’s network worked, according to the judge’s order
Judge Calama’s order traces 40 companies, 110 money transactions, and 60 people seeking evidence of influence trafficking and money laundering.
If you want to understand how the network worked, you can read the full information here
Coalición Canaria declares the legislature finished and calls for elections: “It’s time for citizens to choose a new government”
Coalición Canaria spokesperson in Congress, Cristina Valido, has declared the current legislature led by Pedro Sánchez finished and defended that “the logical thing” would be to call elections this year to “wipe the slate clean” in 2027 and start working with a new government. “The referee blew the whistle. It’s time for citizens to express their opinion and choose a new government,” said the parliamentary spokesperson in an interview on Radio Club Tenerife, as reported by Europa Press, after corruption cases affecting Sánchez’s government, Zapatero’s indictment in the Plus Ultra case, and the impossibility of approving new general state budgets to meet commitments with the Canary Islands.
Asked about the PNV’s warning, whose president, Aitor Esteban, indicated it would be “irresponsible” to continue the legislature in 2027, Valido recalled that the Basque party “is not currently considering a motion of no confidence because it does not like the alternative.” “But it must be sensible in its statements,” said the Coalición Canaria leader, who also questioned whether the coalition government could last next year due to lack of parliamentary support. (EP)
Sumar deputy Enrique Santiago / ZIPI / EFE
Enrique Santiago (IU) defends parliamentary stability after Zapatero’s indictment
IU parliamentary spokesperson Enrique Santiago has assured that “today” there is “parliamentary stability,” just hours after PNV president Aitor Esteban warned Pedro Sánchez on Sunday that he sees it “irresponsible” to end the legislature this way, referring to the impact of former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s indictment. “With the Basque Nationalist Party, we always provide the necessary stability to the government,” Santiago said upon arriving at a Nueva Economía Fórum breakfast.
Sumar Movement coordinator Lara Hernández / Marta Fernández / Europa Press
Sumar proposes a great meeting of all lefts after summer and distances itself from PSOE over corruption
Sumar Movement general coordinator Lara Hernández proposed Monday to convene “a great national meeting of all the lefts in this country” after summer, aiming to form “a horizontal, inspiring space” to serve as a base for a candidacy for the next general elections, likely in 2027. She announced this at a Nueva Economía Fórum breakfast.
Hernández emphasized that the process should start without “making leadership search the main task.” The coalition integrating Más Madrid, Comunes, IU, and Movimiento Sumar still has no candidate for the elections. “We have a year to continue promoting useful policies,” she said regarding the PNV’s call for early elections.
The leader also drew a clear line regarding PSOE on corruption, at a time when former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has just been indicted by the National Court as the alleged leader of an influence trafficking network linked to the Plus Ultra airline bailout. “We have always clearly marked the red lines; our backpack is light,” Hernández said.
Plus Ultra case
The ‘Plus Ultra case’ shakes the political influence business: “Lobbying is not corruption”
When it became known on Tuesday that the Plus Ultra case judge had indicted José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for influence trafficking, Jorge Fernández-Rúa feared what would soon happen: lobbying activity would come under scrutiny. And Gabriel Rufián ensured it.
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‘Plus Ultra case’
Plus Ultra, the niche airline that accessed public bailout with 19% of traffic between Madrid and Caracas
Before the pandemic, Plus Ultra airline was not among the main references on Madrid-Barajas runways. Nor at Tenerife airport, where it was seen as a rare bird with flights to Latin America. It was no rival to Iberia or Air Europa. Nor systemic for the Spanish economy when it accessed in March 2021 (due to the COVID pandemic) a bailout with public money that is again at the center of a high-profile judicial case, now with former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero indicted in the National Court. His alleged mediation in the aid is being investigated. The company obtained 53 million in financing from the Strategic Companies Solvency Support Fund (FASEE), created to rescue corporations hit by the health crisis. Pedro Sánchez’s government insists the bailout met legal requirements.
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‘Plus Ultra case’
Zapatero’s accounts: 2.6 million in five years in transfers from companies in focus and Chinese capital
Before José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s indictment, the Police detailed in a report the former prime minister’s accounts and all transfers he received between 2020 and 2025, the period in which Judge José Luis Calama places an alleged influence trafficking network allegedly led by the former socialist leader. In total, there are income worth 2.6 million euros in 174 transfers from companies related to the investigation (such as consultancy Análisis Relevante, at the epicenter of the case), to Chinese capital companies and another linked to the Acento group, directed in Spain by former ministers José Blanco (PSOE) and Alfonso Alonso (PP).
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‘Plus Ultra case’
Plus Ultra investigation points to two Venezuelan brothers linked to oil who transferred one million to companies in the former president’s orbit
Inteligencia Prospectiva defines itself as: “Organizational consultancy, with economic, industrial, commercial advice and integrated management.” And National Court Judge José Luis Calama describes it as: “It clearly exceeds the capacities and functions of a common entrepreneur, involving high-level state matters unrelated to the usual operation of a commercial company.” Until a week ago, this Madrid-based company was completely unknown in Spain and Venezuela. Until it came to light with President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s indictment.
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Good morning. The earthquake caused by former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s indictment continues to dominate political debate, awaiting details of the Plus Ultra case file on the extent of his involvement in the facts investigated by the National Court. Two voluminous reports with the National Police’s investigations against the former prime minister have already been made public, a week before Rodríguez Zapatero testifies before the National Court.
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