Spanish justice has pointed for the first time at a former President of the Government, the socialist leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, imputing him four criminal offenses related to the rescue of the airline Plus Ultra. Follow the live coverage of the Zapatero case here.
In this case, the crimes he is accused of are criminal organization, influence peddling, document forgery, and money laundering.
A few hours after the news broke on the front pages of national and international media, Zapatero issued a statement through a recorded video, denying the facts and defending his innocence.
On June 2, the former president will have to appear before the National Court to testify as an investigated person —formerly accused—, and it will be from that moment on, during the investigation phase, that it will be determined whether his statement is true or if the weight of the police evidence is sufficient to justify what some are already calling the biggest political scandal of Spanish democracy.
The actors
The alleged plot surrounding Zapatero includes multiple actors who move between different continents, with the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI) as the protagonist. This organization depends on the Ministry of Finance and its president is chosen by the Council of Ministers.
Characters such as the businessman and jogging friend Julio Martínez Martínez, with whom he ran in El Pardo, also enter the scene, as reported —within the environment of the La Zarzuela complex, as reported by El Debate— and who is suspected of having acted as a frontman, while conducting business with the daughters of former President Zapatero.
The alleged role of intermediary of the former PSOE leader with Plus Ultra links him, according to police evidence, with other actors extending to the previous and current Government of Venezuela.
With the work of UDEF and the National Court, instrumental companies, consultancies, and advisory contracts emerge in the background of this story, as well as international capital movements. Also included is José Luis Ábalos, former number two of the PSOE and former Minister of Transport —currently in provisional prison for the Mascarillas case—, who has always maintained that his ministry did not participate in the rescue of Plus Ultra.
One must go back to March 2021, with the Government presided over by Pedro Sánchez, while millions of Spaniards were being vaccinated against Covid-19, suffering movement restrictions and curfews in some autonomous communities. In that context, the rescue of Plus Ultra was approved by SEPI, an agency dependent on the Ministry of Finance, then headed by María Jesús Montero, former vice-president of the Government and PSOE candidate for the Presidency of the Junta de Andalucía.
SEPI was the entity in charge of managing the Fund for the Support of the Solvency of Strategic Companies, created by the Executive to distribute public aid financed with state resources during the pandemic.
The controversial rescue of Plus Ultra
Precisely there lies one of the main controversies of the case: the consideration of Plus Ultra as a strategic company. The airline had a reduced presence in the Spanish market, limited operations and a minimal share of passengers and routes compared to other companies in the sector. Furthermore, it had accumulated losses even before the pandemic. Despite this, the Government approved public aid of 53 million euros, funded with emergency funds mobilized during the health crisis.
Julio Martínez Martínez
The National Court is now investigating whether part of that money ended up benefiting businessmen, consultants, and intermediaries linked to the political and business circles close to Zapatero. At this point, one of the prominent names in the reports of the Economic and Fiscal Crimes Unit (UDEF) appears: the businessman Julio Martínez Martínez, considered by investigators as one of the main intermediaries in the operation and a person close to the former socialist president, who in some circles is referred to as Zapatero's frontman.
According to the investigations, companies linked to his circle signed contracts related to Plus Ultra and allegedly received significant payments after the rescue was approved.
Investigators maintain that several companies involved issued invoices for consulting and advisory work whose effective execution could not be documented —"oral reports," Zapatero has even called them in a recent appearance in the Senate—.
Part of the contracts included commission clauses directly conditioned on the approval of public aid by SEPI. For this reason, the Judicial Police is focusing its investigation on the analysis of emails, commercial contracts, international transfers and bank movements, with the aim of determining whether a structure existed to channel public funds to private companies through allegedly simulated consultancies.
The case also examines international financial operations linked to businessmen related to the proceedings.
In fact, UDEF detected transfers to accounts in Miami and economic movements between Spain, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and the United States, considered of special interest due to the complexity of the structures used. Part of these funds allegedly circulated through shell companies with hardly any known activity, which is why the National Court opened proceedings for possible crimes of money laundering and criminal organization.
SEPI
SEPI's role is central to the investigation, as it was the body responsible for evaluating and approving the rescue with public funds. Directly dependent on the Ministry of Finance, the state-owned company managed billions of euros during the pandemic and became one of the main economic tools of Pedro Sánchez's government.
The National Court is trying to clarify which technical reports justified the aid to Plus Ultra, what internal controls were applied, and whether there were political intermediations or external pressures during the evaluation process.
During this period of investigation, two names stand out in SEPI's management. On the one hand, that of Vicente Fernández Guerrero, former comptroller of the Junta de Andalucía during María Jesús Montero's tenure as Minister of Finance. The second is that of Bartolomé Lora.
In 2018, when Montero moved from Seville to Madrid to become Minister of Finance, Fernández Guerrero was appointed president of SEPI, after its publication in the BOE. A position he later left after being implicated in a corruption case related to contracting at the Aznalcóllar mines in 2015.
He was succeeded in the position by Bartolomé Lora, then vice-president of SEPI, who served as acting president until the appointment of Belén Gualda by Pedro Sánchez's Council of Ministers.
It is during this stage that the rescue takes place, and when there are indications that Fernández Guerrero acted in the shadows as president of SEPI. In his statement before the Senate investigation committee, he refused to testify about the rescue, alleging that he was under judicial investigation, as in December 2025 he was arrested for allegedly diverting illegal commissions from public contracts.
The former Minister of Finance has also denied knowing Fernández Guerrero. In December 2025, she even stated that this executive "was dismissed six years ago" as president of SEPI, when he was indicted in the Aznalcóllar mine case. Since then, she stressed, she has not had "any kind of contact with him" again.
Ábalos
The political relevance of the case has led to the opening of an investigation committee in the Senate into the public rescues approved during the pandemic. Various political and business leaders linked to SEPI's aid have appeared before this committee, including Zapatero himself and the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero.
During their appearances, both defended the legality of public aid and rejected any irregularity in the rescue approval procedure.
In parallel, the then Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, insisted on several occasions that his ministry did not participate in the approval of the rescue and that the operation corresponded exclusively to SEPI and the economic area of the Government dependent on Finance. His statements acquired political relevance because Plus Ultra belonged to the aviation sector and because the rescue ended up becoming one of the most questioned operations of the public aid granted during the pandemic.
Air Europa, Aldama
Zapatero's figure also appears linked to other business dealings related to the aviation sector and Venezuela. Various press reports placed the former president as an intermediary in contacts related to the rescue of Air Europa and possible financing formulas linked to the Venezuelan environment.
According to those reports, the operation did not prosper and subsequently some of those negotiations would have been assumed by the businessman Víctor de Aldama, investigated in other cases related to public contracts and commissions during the pandemic.
Although the rescue of Air Europa is a different procedure from that of Plus Ultra, both operations have reinforced the political and judicial focus on the management of public aid and the business relationships that have arisen around them.
Precisely this Tuesday, Víctor de Aldama has spoken out on social media about the indictment of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, sharing a news report from El Confidencial about it, and adding the text: "Everything comes."
Aldama has stated on occasion that the former socialist leader traveled with him on a private plane, specifically a Jocker 850P, through America, at the request of the politician from León.
Aldama assures that he keeps flight plans that could prove it and that these flights are related to the illegal financing of the PSOE.
Demócrata has contacted Víctor Aldama, but he has limited himself to telling us that he does not want to make any comments until he has a sentence.
Consulting firms
The National Court is also investigating payments attributed directly to Zapatero for consulting work carried out for companies linked to the business environment under investigation.
According to various reports incorporated into the case, the former president allegedly received more than 400,000 euros in five years through advisory contracts. Investigators are trying to determine if these services were real and properly justified or if they could have served to cover up payments related to the rescue operation. But, according to the newspaper The Objective, the judge believes that Zapatero received up to two million in commissions and asked to create 'off-shore' companies.
Zapatero's daughters
Within the framework of the investigations and parliamentary appearances on the Plus Ultra case, various reports published in the media have placed the communication agency Whathefav, founded by Laura and Alba Rodríguez Espinosa, daughters of former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, under scrutiny.
According to these publications, the company allegedly provided marketing, digital strategy, and communication services to companies linked to the consultancy Análisis Relevante SL, considered by investigators to be one of the central pieces of the business network surrounding the airline's bailout approved by SEPI.
The consultancy Análisis Relevante was founded by businessman Julio Martínez Martínez, a close collaborator and personal friend of Zapatero. According to documentation analyzed by UDEF, the firm allegedly acted as a consultancy and advisory vehicle for operations related to Plus Ultra and other companies linked to the investigated circle. Investigators suspect that part of the payments may correspond to fictitious contracts or work whose execution could not be fully proven.
The name Whathefav appears in the case because, according to various publications, Zapatero's daughters' agency billed significant amounts to Análisis Relevante between 2020 and 2025 for online communication, branding, and digital strategy work. Zapatero himself acknowledged in his appearance before the Senate investigation commission that the incorporation of his daughters' agency into the consultancy's work was proposed by him and was "part of the agreement" reached with Julio Martínez when he agreed to work as an external advisor to the company.
As reported by The Objective, Julio Martínez Martínez —alleged frontman for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and investigated in the secret Plus Ultra case following his arrest on December 12— modified the shareholding of his company Análisis Relevante SL a few days after this media outlet exclusively published the first information about his businesses as a client of the former president's daughters' communication agency, as well as his 18 companies, which he maintained at the time, with hardly any employees.
Venezuela
The investigation has also acquired an international dimension due to the business and financial connections detected around the case. Various media outlets and police investigations point to possible links with Venezuelan businessmen and companies historically associated with the Chavista economic circle.
The UDEF investigates international fund movements, corporate structures based outside of Spain, and operations linked to Panama, the Dominican Republic, Dubai, and Venezuela. Some publications maintain that part of the investigated funds could come from operations related to Venezuelan public programs or financial movements linked to the gold trade and structures close to the Banco de Venezuela.
In that context, several publications highlight the close political and diplomatic relationship maintained for years by Zapatero with the Venezuelan Government, especially with Nicolás Maduro and Delcy Rodríguez. The former president has participated as a mediator and international interlocutor with Caracas, a role that was once again placed at the center of political debate after episodes such as the so-called "Delcygate," related to the visit of the Venezuelan vice president to Barajas airport in January 2020.