Política

The expected confession of businessman Julio Martínez Martínez fell short. According to legal sources, it could be an advance, an announcement of his predisposition to collaborate, but it was not a complete statement that would allow finding out who former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero influenced, among other things, to achieve the rescue of the airline Plus Ultra, which was granted 53 million euros after the pandemic to prevent its eventual financial collapse.

The defense of former president Carles Puigdemont made a move this Tuesday and filed a complaint against Spain before the European Commission in response to the Court of Auditors’ refusal to apply the Amnesty Law from the outset, a gesture that, in their opinion, contravenes the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Accounts has once again requested this Tuesday, as it did in 2024, that the Amnesty Law be applied to the thirty former senior officials of the Government who are being claimed for the expenses of 1-O and the foreign action of the Generalitat during the years of the procés. Among them are former presidents Carles Puigdemont and Artur Mas, as well as several former ministers. In addition, it reprimands the court for not applying the law directly.

Julio Martínez Martínez has taken the first step to place all responsibility for the activity of the company Análisis Relevante on former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, a personal friend of his since 2011. The businessman already announced his new position yesterday in a letter to the National Court judge investigating him and today he ratified it in court.

Possible sanctions against judge Juan Carlos Peinado, investigating judge in the case of Begoña Gómez, wife of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, have been left up in the air. The Permanent Commission of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) met this morning to study the complaints filed against Peinado. There was no agreement and the members of the commission have agreed to re-examine the issue “in the coming days”.

The Constitutional Court will deliberate on September 22 for the first time on the pending appeals for protection due to the Supreme Court’s refusal to apply the Amnesty law to the leaders of the ‘procés’ who were convicted of embezzlement.

In recent weeks there had been a tense calm in the Plus Ultra case. Since José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero testified as the alleged leader of an influence peddling scheme on June 17, things began to move. He denied everything, distanced himself from any management in favor of the airline. He left the responsibility, in any case, to Julio Martínez Martínez. The businessman’s position was compromised and he had two options: to acknowledge his dealings with Plus Ultra, the creation of an offshore company in Dubai, and that his relationship with Zapatero was limited to paying him for consulting, as the former president claimed; or to follow the path of the corrupter in the Mask case, Víctor de Aldama, admit the facts, at least in part, and let the big catch fall.

The Court of Auditors avoids applying the amnesty for the time being to the thirty former senior officials of the Generalitat Government, including former presidents Artur Mas and Carles Puigdemont, for the expenses of the procés.

Julio Martínez Martínez acknowledges the role of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the rescue of the airline Plus Ultra for 53 million euros in 2021, contrary to what the socialist claimed, according to a document accessed by La Vanguardia.

The ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) did not alter the dynamics of recent months, during which former president Carles Puigdemont has stayed away from the spotlight. Jordi Turull, secretary general of Junts, pointed out that Thursday’s script – only he and lawyer Gonzalo Boye spoke – was designed not to raise expectations… Although the ruling was labeled a “resounding victory,” “it is not definitive,” they argue. And on the political front, everything remains frozen while waiting for the former president’s future to become clear, with the PSOE watching closely the next moves of the post-convergents.