UDEF Finds Zapatero's Friend Had 1% Contract Linked to Plus Ultra State Aid. Police seized a contract from an Alicante businessman with Plus Ultra, granting 1% of the state aid amount. The document is key in the investigation into possible influence by Zapatero. The case involves offshore accounts and large sums.
In Spain, the investigation into the allocation of state support to the airline Plus Ultra continues. According to case materials, UDEF officers discovered a copy of a contract in an industrial facility in Petrer (Alicante) belonging to entrepreneur Julio Martínez Martínez. This contract stipulated that his company, Idella Consulenza Strategica, was to receive 1% of the state aid granted to Plus Ultra. The document is dated January 2021, that is, two months before the official decision to allocate €53 million from the Strategic Enterprises Support Fund.
According to EL PAÍS, the contract found was formalized as an agreement for professional services between Idella Consulenza, represented by Martínez Martínez, and Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas S. A., represented at the time by the airline’s vice president, Julio Martínez Sola. The seized copy contains only the signature of the Plus Ultra representative and the company's stamp, but sources close to the investigation say a version signed by both parties also exists. The newspaper El Mundo previously published an image of such a document.
Under the terms of the contract, Idella Consulenza was supposed to receive a commission of 1% of the state aid amount, plus VAT. According to police estimates, this amounts to €641,300. The agreement was valid until the moment SEPI decided on the aid allocation, and in case of approval, until all financial obligations were fully met.
The investigation notes that this contract became one of the key pieces of evidence in the case in which former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is named as a suspect for influence peddling and related crimes. Case files indicate that just six days after the contract was signed, Zapatero initiated the creation of an offshore company in Dubai, wholly owned by Idella Consulenza Strategica—precisely the firm intended to receive the commission.
UDEF also discovered that there were other consultancy agreements between entities associated with Martínez Martínez and Plus Ultra, covering longer periods and involving significant sums. During the investigation, police also focused on additional episodes related to large cash flows in the region. For example, earlier in Alicante, a local entrepreneur was found in possession of substantial amounts of cash, which also drew the attention of investigators—more details can be found in the article about the discovery of 286 thousand euros in the businessman’s home.
For reference: Plus Ultra is a Spanish airline that received government support in 2021 amid the pandemic. The decision to allocate these funds sparked widespread public debate and led to a series of investigations. SEPI (Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales) is responsible for distributing the Strategic Enterprise Support Fund. The Plus Ultra case became one of the most discussed examples of a possible conflict of interest and political influence over the allocation of state aid in Spain.
