Overview
- Zapatero, who spoke on Onda Cero on Monday, said he invoiced and declared his consulting income and denied any relationship with the airline Plus Ultra.
- He said he did not know who hired Análisis Relevante, the consultancy that paid him, and he emphasized his unpaid mediation in Venezuela and close ties with Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez.
- Análisis Relevante remains under an Audiencia Nacional investigation into alleged money laundering linked to Spain’s 2021 €53 million rescue of Plus Ultra, and its administrator Julio Martínez was detained in December.
- He called it very strange that a photo of him jogging with Martínez was taken three days before Martínez’s arrest, suggesting the image came from a prior tailing and was then published soon after the detention.
- New reporting late Monday by El Mundo says Martínez’s network billed about €1.2 million from clients tied to Venezuela and China and that Análisis Relevante paid Zapatero about €460,000 plus €200,000 to his daughters’ firm, while other outlets spotlight contradictions in his accounts.