The judicial investigation led by Judge José Luis Calama that keeps the former President of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero under investigation regarding the alleged irregularities regarding the rescue of Plus Ultra that the Government of Pedro Sánchez granted to the airline in March 2021 entails a “special complexity.”
On the one hand, because the trace of the state aid granted to the airline has been lost, at least in five foreign countries through a complex corporate network that includes off-shore businesses and that the defendants created, precisely, to make the traceability of funds difficult or “launder” them.
And, on the other hand, because the alleged criminal organization is characterized, according to the investigating judge, by “its opacity, the use of asset concealment mechanisms and the intervention of interposed third parties.”
In one of the reports prepared by the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit of the National Police (UDEF) and incorporated into the judicial summary to which LA RAZÓN has had access, the investigators assure that part of the 53 million state euros that the airline received were transferred abroad to accounts of entities linked both to the alleged criminal organization and to the corporate environment of Plus Ultra.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office received, in fact, a complaint, the main reason for which was related to the improper diversion of those 53 million euros and which, presumably, were used for other purposes.
“In effect, outflows of money have been detected from these accounts – in reference to the bank deposits of the investigated and shareholder of the airline Rodolfo Reyes – destined for bank accounts abroad in favor of companies managed by the Dutch citizen residing in Switzerland, Simon Verhoeven, investigated by the Geneva Prosecutor’s Office,” the document reads.
Specifically, “irregular payments” were detected to the companies Alipa Wira Trading Ltd (United Kingdom), Allpa Wira Trading AG (Switzerland), Valerian Corporation (Gibraltar) and Wailea Investment (United Kingdom), credited to accounts in banks in the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Mauritius, Montenegro, Malaysia and Puerto Rico.
For example, there is evidence of two payments from the account receiving state aid for a total amount of 920,870 euros in favor of a company in the United Kingdom and the same number just after a month of receiving the aforementioned rescue to companies dedicated to the international trafficking of Venezuelan gold and already investigated by the Swiss authorities.
The report also maintains that the network used companies based in different countries and offshore jurisdictions to channel money and simulate economic operations with the “appearance of legality.” The investigation has been able to verify the existence of various invoices issued by companies located in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands and Panama, among others, for relevant amounts, and places part of other financial movements in countries such as Switzerland or the United Arab Emirates.
These are issues that agree with Judge Calama’s decision to open a separate piece of the case to trace the banking and financial movements of the plot abroad. The focus of these transfers would also be on Venezuela, China and Dubai, although the agents do not highlight the appearance of new sites, and would involve up to almost forty companies; all of this after the judge confirmed the international ramifications and the especially complex financial operations that the alleged criminal organization carried out.
It should be remembered that the Fund to Support the Solvency of Strategic Companies (FASEE) from which the state credits came was approved just one day after a “key” meeting between senior officials of the department then directed by José Luis Ábalos – such as, for example, the former Secretary of State Pedro Saura – and directors of Plus Ultra.
Just five days later, the investigator and close friend of Zapatero, “Julito Martínez” and the president of the airline, Julio Martínez Sola, met to sign the advisory contract between Analisis Relevante – Julio Martínez’s consulting firm that paid Zapatero 490,780 euros and 239,755 to his daughters’ company – and Plus Ultra for 6,050 euros per month for twelve months.
For Calama, this temporal sequence reveals “the temporal synchrony between influence efforts and the formalization of contracts.” Likewise, the airline’s payments to Relevant Analysis begin on May 5, 2020, one day after those investigated refer to a “clandestine” meeting with a SEPI contact.
The message: “Zapatero rules here”
The directors of Plus Ultra, the investigation points out, were aware according to the UDEF “of the network of contacts and influences” of the former president of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. This is how the former director of the airline Rodolfo Reyes expresses them in a conversation with the then vice president of Plus Ultra Julio Martínez Sola, making express reference to his influence in Venezuela. “Zapatero is here in charge”, he tells you on December 5, 2020 with a view to the negotiations with the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics of Venezuela due to problems with the airline’s flights.