Overview
- Víctor Ábalos claimed former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero acted as a “president in the shadows” and benefited from the €53 million 2021 bailout of Plus Ultra.
- He alleged Zapatero pressured then–Transport Ministry number two Pedro Saura to back the rescue and pointed to lobbying networks tied to the former leader.
- Ábalos asserted that Pedro Sánchez phoned his father in January 2020 to go to Madrid-Barajas to prevent Delcy Rodríguez from entering the Schengen area, saying officials were unaware of her EU sanctions.
- He said Delcy Rodríguez’s trip was chiefly to meet Zapatero and alleged she made other sanctioned visits to Spain for shopping, later describing some of this as his opinion rather than verified information.
- He reiterated that “my father has information,” while José Luis Ábalos remains in preventive custody facing anticorruption charges with prosecutors seeking up to 24 years and a Supreme Court hearing scheduled.