The alleged influence plot of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero would have met with a “guy from SEPI” (State Society of Industrial Participations), according to a report from the Economic and Financial Crimes Unit of the Police contained in the case file accessed by La Vanguardia. In that meeting, besides the “guy from SEPI,” one of the shareholders of Plus Ultra, Roberto Roselli; the friend and alleged frontman of the former Prime Minister, Julio Martínez Martínez, and Zapatero himself participated in a “clandestine” manner
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The account of events begins when the shareholders of Plus Ultra were looking for ways to obtain public aid for the airline, which was suffering from lack of activity due to the coronavirus crisis. In September 2020, two of the airline’s executives, Roberto Roselli and Rodolfo Reyes, had the following conversation: “We are going to pressure him to give us a meeting at least inside SEPI, whatever it is, but I don’t know, I don’t know if it will be good for them to give him a technical nudge from above or for Zapatero to talk to someone at SEPI, I don’t know, imagine, fifteen days and the file is there on the table and no one has seen it, it worries me.”
The next day, Reyes had another conversation with the president of Plus Ultra, Julio Martínez Sola: “Tomorrow at 12:00, almost certainly, I will meet with the namesake [referring to Julio Martínez Martínez, friend and alleged frontman of Zapatero]. I am already grilling him. What I want is for him to talk to SEPI, him or Zapatero, and at least get a verbal confirmation that they grant us the aid with 100% certainty. With that answer, they can look for a bank for the bridge loan.”
“We need that push,” Reyes replies. And according to investigations, they got it, because “days later, Roselli reports that a meeting took place: “with the guy
from SEPI” and that Julio and he were there and, “from the other line, the contact was also there, clandestinely,” he points out referring to Zapatero, according to the UDEF’s conclusion. And adds that “according to the view of ‘the contact,’ the situation was considered positive.”
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The negotiations were successful and the members of the plot found out quickly. The UDEF report states that “Julio Martínez Martínez congratulates and praises Rodolfo Reyes for having obtained the public aid granted by SEPI: Dear Rodolfo. Already in the last days to get the SEPI loan, it will very likely be at the Council of Ministers on March 9. My greatest congratulations for having achieved the goal. Without a doubt, it was the result of the
exceptional work carried out by the Plus Ultra team. I have been informed and congratulated on this excellent work by SEPI itself,” Martínez wrote to Reyes on February 26, 2021.
Finally, the rescue of Plus Ultra was approved at the Council of Ministers on March 9, 2021, for an amount of 53 million euros.
