Alberto Núñez Feijóo has been very critical of the “agreed interview” that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero granted to RTVE to give explanations about the jewels valued at 1.3 million euros and the alleged collection of a commission for helping in the rescue of Plus Ultra. In the opinion of the PP leader, Zapatero “has not answered anything” and has assured that Pedro Sánchez “is in Zapatero’s hands and Zapatero is in Julio Martínez’s hands,” referring to the businessman who confessed that the former President of the Government took 1% of the Plus Ultra rescue.
Read more The explanations of Zapatero in ten sentences
Feijóo believes that the interview was a strategy by Sánchez because “he needs more time to continue and has used Zapatero to distract public opinion.” “Is the left of our country really telling workers that a person who has 1.3 million euros in jewels in their safe, on the premises of the Socialist Party, has no purpose or interest?” Feijóo asked, referring to Zapatero’s statement that “the jewels were a courtesy gift, without use, purpose, or patrimonial intent.” “It’s a disgrace,” the PP leader declared.
Previously, the PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, had also made an assessment, very much aligned with Feijóo’s words. “There were many unknowns he had to answer, and he didn’t answer any,” she said, and assured that the former socialist president’s explanations were an “absolute mockery.”
“He only went to defend his innocence and that of the President of the Government because their futures are linked. If one is guilty, it’s because the other also did something wrong,” Muñoz pointed out, referring to the Popular Party’s suspicions that Zapatero asked a government member for help to approve the Plus Ultra rescue worth 53 million euros. At this point, the PP spokesperson accused Zapatero of not answering “why he was paid by businessmen who were rescued,” such as the Plus Ultra case, and of not explaining “why his daughters’ companies were paid without doing the work they were supposed to.”
The PP calls for transparency
Accuses Zapatero of not answering “why he was paid by businessmen” after the rescues nor about his daughters’ activities
“So he hasn’t answered any of the doubts that most Spaniards had about him,” she insisted, and criticized Zapatero’s explanations about the jewels: “He says it’s a gift, he doesn’t clarify if he received them when he was president or not. He says he never had a desire for patrimonial enrichment. So, if I go abroad and a leader gives me 1.5 million euros and it’s put into my account, if I have no interest in spending it, do I not need to pay taxes on it?” Muñoz quipped, given that the jewels valued at 1.3 million euros are under judicial investigation because they have not been fiscally declared and Zapatero has defended that “they were a courtesy gift, without use, purpose, or patrimonial intent.”
Muñoz has equated Zapatero’s situation with that of José Luis Ábalos, who ended up sentenced to 24 years in prison. “I want to remind you that when someone is charged, they have the right to lie. I want to recall all the episodes that Spaniards are currently remembering about Mr. Ábalos on all television programs saying that everything was a lie and then it was proven to be true,” Muñoz recalled.
Vox
Points out that the Plus Ultra rescue “would not have been possible without the intermediation of the Council of Ministers”
On behalf of Vox, Pepa Millán, spokesperson in Congress, reacted. Millán also criticized that Zapatero “still has not explained the origin of the jewels found in his office, nor his role in the Plus Ultra rescue, nor that of his daughters in this whole plot.”
Millán also accused the Government of being behind this “macro corrupt plot.” “It would not have been possible without the intermediation of the Council of Ministers and without the mediation, consent, or tolerance of Pedro Sánchez,” the Vox spokesperson stated.
Read more Zapatero: “The jewels were a courtesy gift, without use, destination, or patrimonial intent.”
