{
  "id": 15555372,
  "title": "The owner of Plus Ultra tells the judge that they paid the “Zapatero group” before knowing if they would help them.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/19/el-dueno-de-plus-ultra-dice-al-juez-que-pagaron-al-grupo-zapatero",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-19T03:30:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "El Pais",
    "slug": "el-pais",
    "url": "https://elpais.com/espana/2026-10-19/el-dueno-de-plus-ultra-dice-al-juez-que-pagaron-al-grupo-zapatero-antes-de-saber-si-les-ayudarian.html"
  },
  "original_language": "es",
  "account": "Julio Martínez Sola, former president and majority owner of airline Plus Ultra, testified at Spain's Audiencia Nacional on September 7. He claimed the company sought help from a group associated with former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in 2020 to secure a 53 million euro government bailout following the pandemic. Martínez Sola stated that no specific actions were requested of Zapatero in the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), but the company agreed to pay 1% of the bailout amount due to uncertainty. The judge, José Luis Calama, expressed skepticism about the company's lack of oversight on its investors and lenders, as well as Sola's vague responses.",
  "summary": "Julio Martínez Sola acknowledged that he was not aware of any action taken by the former president.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}