The statement by Julio Martínez Martínez not only served to clarify his actions in the Plus Ultra case. It also allowed anticipating the next moves of the investigating judge. During the interrogation of the alleged frontman for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, magistrate José Luis Calama indicated that an exhaustive review of the movements of the company Whathefav, owned by the two daughters of the former President of the Government, would be carried out.
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Udef reports estimate that, beyond any real activity it might have had, the company functioned as an instrument to channel the profits from the influence peddling attributed to Zapatero.
The frontman’s company, Análisis Relevante, paid Whathefav a retainer of 5,000 euros in exchange for alleged layout work for consulting reports. According to sources familiar with the statement, Judge Calama made it clear in his interventions that he did not believe that such amounts were paid for those jobs.
When questioned by his defense, Julio Martínez explained that in 2022 Whathefav stopped doing that layout work. However, he had to continue paying the retainer. When asked why, he said it was Zapatero’s daughters.
The day after the father’s statement at the Audiencia Nacional, the judge agreed to charge Alba and Laura Rodríguez Espinosa. He did so following the express request of the Anti-Corruption prosecutor Elena Lorente and the popular accusations, coordinated by the PP. Both will have to testify as investigated parties, although no date has been set. It will not be before September, as the instructor explained to the parties yesterday that he had no intention of agreeing to new statements until then.
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Regarding the daughters, Calama recalled in his indictment order that both are formal administrators of Whathefav, an “instrumental” company, according to investigators, intended to receive funds paid to Zapatero for his efforts to secure the 53 million rescue for the airline. This circumstance “determines, by itself, the appropriateness of their summons as investigated parties.” He adds that the investigation attributes to the company “an instrumental role in the channeling, concealment, or facilitation of relevant operations” for the facts subject to the procedure, and “that mere objective verification places its administrators in the circle of persons potentially affected by the indictment, as holders of the organic representation and responsible for the legal direction of the entity.”
The investigation allows the judge to conclude that Whathefav acts “as the ultimate element of the scheme, receiving funds from both the network’s clients and the organized structure itself.” Furthermore, it “operates as a center for the redistribution of economic flows, channeling payments towards José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his circle.” Thirdly, it “generates ad hoc invoicing intended to provide formal coverage for financial movements lacking real economic activity.” Finally, it participates in the dissemination of Análisis Relevante reports, “without providing its own technical value, which evidences an instrumental structure.”
The judge took special care to justify why he did not summon the daughters as witnesses: that “would impose on them the duty to tell the truth and the prohibition of withholding information, irreversibly compromising their right to not testify against themselves and to not confess guilt”.
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