The Council of Ministers agreed to the rescue of the airline Plus Ultra in March 2021 for an amount of 53 million euros, considering it a “strategic” company. That rescue may have been carried out outside the law. The judge of the National Court José Luis Calama believes that the airline did not meet the requirements established in the European regulations to be rescued.
The bailout granted during the pandemic by the state holding company SEPI to Plus Ultra as part of the support for strategic companies in trouble is at the center of the plot surrounding José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero investigated by judge José Luis Calama. According to the judge, the executives of this small airline tried to obtain the aid of 53 million granted by SEPI through “mechanisms outside the legally established channels,” either through the mediation of José Luis Ábalos or Zapatero himself, which was the channel used. The former Prime Minister played a “predominant role” and “allowed Plus Ultra to achieve the pursued objectives.” How did this SEPI aid program work? Why was it so decisive for many companies and so controversial in some cases?
The car of instructor José Luis Calama reconstructs through messages from those investigated in the Plus Ultra case how the airline company strove during the pandemic to access public funds (“we need to get the aid”) through political means (“we contacted Ábalos,” “the bridge with ZP has just been made”) in exchange for payments to whoever agreed to it (“We are going to screw even if we have to pay a little”). These conversations have been obtained by the National Court thanks to the international collaboration of the United States agency Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which extracted them from the phone of the also investigated Rodolfo Reyes, Venezuelan partner of the airline.
“Where does lobbying end and where does influence peddling begin?”. Gabriel Rufián brought to the Congress of Deputies this Wednesday one of those questions that have hovered over Spanish politics for years and that the Zapatero case has brought back to the forefront. The difficulty in delineating the boundary between legitimate influence and opaque practices. An activity that in Spain continues to operate in a wide gray area. The question, addressed to Pedro Sánchez during the control session, was not only seeking a response from the Prime Minister but also aimed to highlight one of the major regulatory gaps in the Spanish political system. Therefore, the Prime Minister chose to respond by referring to the lobbying law that Congress has been processing for months.
For the first time in Spanish democracy, a judge is investigating a former prime minister and is doing so for, among other alleged crimes, influence peddling. The judge of the National Court José Luis Calama has gathered evidence to proceed against José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for having woven a network to use his influence in the current Government of Pedro Sánchez, as well as in other instances, such as the Venezuelan executive, in favor of companies in exchange for money.
The scope of the Plus Ultra case has grown so large with the indictment of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for corruption that it has led Alberto Núñez Feijóo to prepare a response that may go beyond calling for Pedro Sánchez’s resignation. “I am going to fulfill my duty and do everything possible to ensure there is a change of government,” says the leader of the PP in private conversations.
In the midst of a political, judicial, and media earthquake following the indictment of former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for alleged crimes of criminal organization, influence peddling, or money laundering, Alberto Núñez Feijóo has issued an urgent demand for Pedro Sánchez’s resignation. “What are you still doing there, tarnishing the presidency of the Government of Spain one more day?” the leader of the Popular Party asked the head of the Executive during the control session in Congress this Wednesday, following the accusations from the National Court judge against who is, he emphasized, his “moral beacon.”
In broad daylight and in full view of everyone in a busy square in Figueres, a man stabbed his ex-partner to death this Tuesday. The victim, a 33-year-old transgender woman of Honduran origin, received several stab wounds to the chest, injuries that proved fatal. The attacker, 48 years old and of Spanish nationality, had a restraining order against the victim, but he had violated it twice in the last few hours.
News surprise, outrage, please, or sadden. They never cause indifference. Some, like the arrest of Jonathan Andic, simply and nothing less leave that bad taste in the mouth against which no toothpaste or mouthwash is effective. I include myself in the list of those greeted by…
When a judge orders the imprisonment of a son as the alleged murderer of his father and another judge considers that a former Prime Minister of Spain is the “leader” of a criminal network of corruption and influence peddling, we have no other option as journalists than to…
