The order from the instructor José Luis Calama reconstructs through messages from those investigated in the Plus Ultra case how the airline company struggled in the middle of the pandemic to access public funds (“we need to get the aid”) through political means (“we contact 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 were 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.
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The messages date back to March 2020, with Spain locked down due to coronavirus, where Reyes asks a lawyer “where to knock on doors” politically to get aid for the airline. “We contact Ábalos,” the efforts begin. At the end of the month, the same accused contacts a former Venezuelan deputy minister to “ask for help” from former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The ex-member of Nicolás Maduro’s government responds with “go through the formal route, I will find a way to reach ZP.” Reyes informs Plus Ultra president Julio Martínez Sola of the contacts seeking the link with Zapatero at that time. And a month later, on April 28, 2020, they inform the airline’s founder that this route was already open: “The bridge with ZP has just been made.” On April 30, Reyes informs the former Venezuelan deputy minister that the Plus Ultra president had spoken with Zapatero: “11 min. He explained everything (…) Then when you can, you ask him.”
But the plot tried to open another route: the then Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos. Reyes records in one of his messages the approach “to the right hand of the minister,” referring to Koldo García, who is imprisoned with Ábalos. The order reveals that the plot secured a meeting on July 22, 2020, with the then Secretary of State for Transport, Pedro Saura. The instructor maintains that as a result of that meeting, the investigated obtained “high recommendations.” “Our buddy ZP behind it,” comments Reyes.
With the extracted messages, the magistrate also traces the link between the alleged plot’s services and the payments made. It is in June 2020 when Reyes asks Roberto Roselli, CEO of Plus Ultra, if the “financial boutique” [referring to the commercial structure created for collections] set a price for its services. “Not yet (…) Well, if it gets something, it deserves payment,” he replies. The order is full of phrases in this sense: “If it secures, we give double when the money comes,” “they get paid if they move,” “we have no problem paying whoever pulls the strings.”
On February 26, 2021, days before the airline, which has a fleet of six planes, received 53 million in public money, Julio Martínez, whom the plot calls Zapatero’s “lackey,” informs Venezuelan magnate Camilo Ibrahim Issa that Plus Ultra would obtain the loan even though the managing council that had to decide had not yet met. The Council of Ministers definitively approved it on March 9. That day Martínez congratulated Reyes on obtaining the aid: “My biggest congratulations for achieving the goal.” “Without a doubt, many thanks for the support. Difficult times that are only overcome with the support of friends and good relationships,” he said.
The instructor also highlights a conversation from a WhatsApp chat called “PU” [for Plus Ultra] of several investigated people to which they send a photo on a restaurant terrace mocking that “SEPI does not approve those expenses” [regarding the food bill]. Roselli replies, “don’t worry, that comes out of the 1%,” to which Martínez responds with “then, approved.” For Calama, this statement “has perfect correlation” with the contract signed between the airline and a company of the plot by which if the bailout was achieved, they would receive 1% of the public money.
