Once the summary of the Plus Ultra case is known, the investigated parties already know what evidence and indications exist against them. Messages, invoices, documents, conversations, or tax information that are part of the case and have served for Judge José Luis Calama to affirm, indicatively, the existence of a network of influence peddling led by former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Now the moves begin. The investigated have three options: deny all indications, band together among themselves, or adopt a ‘every man for himself’ approach.
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The first to leave the board was Julio Martínez Martínez, businessman and personal friend of Zapatero. Until now, he has defended that he was hired by Plus Ultra for consulting and advisory work and had separated these functions from his contractual relationship with the former Prime Minister, who would have made reports for him worth a total of 490,000 euros over four years.
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But Martínez did not know what was in the case, mainly because it was secret. On Monday he already knew what the judge and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office had, and today he has broken with his lawyer due to “irreconcilable differences” in the defense “strategy.”
There are two options. Either the lawyer offered him to reach a deal with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, admit the facts, and point to the former Prime Minister, or vice versa. Until now, the maintained strategy has been to deny the facts and defend all consulting and advisory contracts. Something has broken within Martínez.
Meanwhile, Rodríguez Zapatero is already preparing his defense for his statement on June 17 before Judge Calama. From that statement, he could come out with precautionary measures imposed, the mildest being the withdrawal of his passport and prohibition to leave the country.
The former socialist leader is already studying which strategy to follow and whether he will go hand in hand with Martínez or if they will break in their strategy. But what is known from other judicial processes is that the first to negotiate with the Prosecutor’s Office, confess, and point to the others has the advantage. But all that would involve admitting the crimes, and it remains to be seen how far each is willing to go.
In Zapatero’s case, he has two weak points. The first are his daughters Alba and Laura, who through their company Whathefav have invoiced Martínez’s company, Análisis Relevante, for a total sum of 239,755 euros, and from other companies of other investigated parties, another 700,000 euros.
These data are part of the case regarding possible influences exerted in the Government in favor of Plus Ultra to achieve a rescue of 53 million euros in 2021. Zapatero’s second problem is that he is the most valuable prey in the case and the one Anti-Corruption will want to catch.
In the recent case regarding the rigging of mask contracts within the Ministry of Transport, it has been demonstrated that the biggest beneficiary was businessman Víctor de Aldama. He made a deal with Anti-Corruption, admitted having repeatedly paid Minister José Luis Ábalos and his advisor Koldo García, and even pointed to payments to other high-ranking officials. In exchange, the penalty he faces is much lower than that demanded of the ex-socialist.
