UCO locates messages about Zapatero’s meetings with Sepi during Plus Ultra rescue

The month of September 2020 It was one of the most tense times for businesses looking to recover some of their capital after the economic earthquake of the pandemic. This period was analyzed to the millimeter by agents of the Central Operational Unit (COU) of the Civil Guard in the context of the Koldo affair.

Thanks to these efforts, investigators intercepted an interesting screenshot on the cell phone of businessman Víctor de Aldama. The sender of this image was Koldo García. The former Transport councilor sent him a conversation he had with his boss José Luis Ábalos. ABC had access to this conversation.

The message dates back to September 7, 2020. Ábalos transmits to his advisor a message that he had received from an unidentified third party. “This The shoemaker reunited right now with the Minister of Inclusion and Social Security of the Ministry of Labor,” the former socialist leader told him. “Just so you know,” the former minister told Koldo García.

“Bartolomé told me he would be there this morning,” his advisor replied, referring to the fact that the president of SEPI at the time would be present at the meeting. This senior socialist official played a key role in unlocking post-pandemic rescues. Bartolomé Lora is currently vice-president of SEPI.

The purpose of this alleged meeting between Zapatero and public officials was to untangle the Plus Ultra bailout, according to sources close to ABC. Victor de Aldamawho knew in depth all the movements of the former president of the government thanks to his close relationship with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez.

However, sources close to Escrivá deny that such a meeting took place and even claim that the the former minister does not know Bartolomé Lora. Likewise, they point out that among his powers was not saving Plus Ultra and that he never addressed this issue.

Aldama is not the only one to have focused on the former socialist leader. Ábalos and Koldo, in their last statements before entering prison, revealed Zapatero’s special interest in the businesses he had in Venezuela.

The two tenants of Soto del Real have been demanding the return of their mobile devices for months in order to be able to defend themselves against the various accusations brought against them. These phones also have more data on Zapatero’s movements in the SEPI with Plus Ultra.

The defense of Koldo García, provided by Leticia de la Hoz, requested this reinstatement, hiding behind the accusations made by Claudia Montes, with whom the former advisor of Ábalos maintains an open dispute. Despite this, Supreme Court Justice Leopoldo Puente He didn’t accept it. And the UCO is still continuing to analyze these phones for the various open files.

The name of the former President of the Government is not the only one who would be affected by these revelations. And Ábalos also keeps conversations with Pedro Sánchez and with other officials of the Socialist Executive. Some of them have already been leaked to the media in recent years.

Negotiations to save the airline were complicated. Meetings to save this company have been multiplying for months. Finally, Plus Ultra received the injection of 53 million euros on March 9, 2021. A case which has been surrounded by controversy and which has not yet dealt its final blow.

Senior SEPI officials at the time the aid was granted to Air Europa and Plus Ultra emphasize that Ábalos was constantly in control of both operations. They also emphasize that it was “the chief ambassador of Víctor de Aldama in this case and in a thousand others. “It was he who called the ministries to tell them to receive him,” and left traces of the conversations everywhere, it is said.

The management council which validated the aid was composed of Bartolomé Lora, then president of SEPI, and the number two of the Ministries of Economy, Finance, Industry and Energy. Today, almost four years later, the national police are investigating the trace of this ransom and have brought to light a businessman close to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Julio Martínez Martínez was among those arrested by the UDEF headquarters for traveling with Plus Ultra money. This man is one of the clients of the communications agency run by the daughters of the former president of the government.

Thanks to your business, Relevant analysis SLbrought tens of thousands of euros to the Whathefav company. It turns out that this mysterious and hermetic character maintained meetings and permanent contact with Zapatero himself.

Plus Ultra and UDEF

Julio Martínez Martínez He has around thirty companies registered in his name. In many of them his brother also appears as proxy. More than a dozen are already without activity.

Some of them happen to be in the same neighborhood where the former socialist leader had a summer home. Martínez, along with the two senior officials of Plus Ultra, were brought to justice last Saturday after the search and seizure of documents by investigators from the UDEF Central.

The three detainees were released with precautionary measures ordered by the duty magistrate. The alleged money laundering case is in the Court of Instruction number 15 of Madrid. Investigations are subject to summary secrecy. The next step for the National Police will be to analyze the enormous documentation seized from the company’s headquarters and the mobile devices seized from those arrested.

The aim of the proceedings is to find out whether company officials speculated with public bailout money. The analysis of Plus Ultra accounts will therefore be essential for further investigations and to determine whether there has been misappropriation of funds.