Overview
- Investigating magistrate Esperanza Collazos from Madrid’s Court No. 15 has recused herself and remitted the probe into the airline’s public bailout to the Audiencia Nacional, citing complexity and expanded scope.
- Sources link the shift to December police operations by the UDEF that included arrests and searches, which produced documentation now under analysis.
- Among seized materials, investigators are reviewing an alleged contract promising a 1% commission for securing the government rescue, while those detained in December were released pending the investigation.
- The inquiry examines payments reportedly made by intermediary Julio Martínez Martínez to former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and to his daughters via Whathefav; Zapatero has denied intervening in the bailout.
- Plus Ultra received €53 million in public funds, and the case now under secrecy involves suspected offenses including money laundering, criminal organization, misappropriation and influence peddling, as Moreno weighs jurisdiction after previously declining it in 2024.