After the Public Prosecutor determined no evidence of a crime had been found, a Madrid judge ordered the case to be closed in 2023. But last December, Spanish police raided the airline’s headquarters and arrested its president, Julio Martínez, for alleged money laundering.
During a hearing in the Spanish Senate earlier this year, Zapatero acknowledged that over the course of several years, he had been paid €463,000 for “written and oral consulting services” for Análisis Relevante, a company owned by Martínez, whom he described as a “friend.” He also that he had never undertaken any work on behalf of Plus Ultra.
Spain’s leading opposition party, the center-right People’s Party, seized on Zapatero’s indictment to attack Sánchez. “The principle that links the last two Socialist prime ministers of Spain is corruption,” the party said in a statement. “Both have denigrated the institution they represent or have represented.”
But the Socialist Party’s organizational secretary, Rebeca Torró, came out in defense of Spain’s former head of government and suggested his indictment was politically motivated.
“José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was Prime Minister for two terms marked by an ambitious program to expand rights, equality, and social protection,” she wrote on X. “The right and the far right have never forgiven him for these advances.”