Spanish police search Plus Ultra headquarters in separate money-laundering probe

On Thursday, Spain’s National Police entered the offices of airline company Plus Ultra to obtain financial documentation as part of a closed money-laundering investigation filed in Madrid’s Investigative Court No. 15.

According to sources cited by the Spanish news agency EFE, officers were inside the company’s main offices reviewing records requested by the court, which is handling the case under strict secrecy.

The operation is part of an unrelated legal case and is not connected with the high-profile inquiry that saw former Socialist Party activist Leire Díez arrested on Wednesday.

The two cases, however, are on two separate judicial tracks, authorities insisted, despite their overlaps in time and involving public officials alongside business figures.

Parallel case involving former SEPI leadership

The National Court’s Central Investigative Court No. 6 ordered the detention of Díez, who worked together with the former acting president of the state-owned industrial holding company SEPI, Vicente Fernández.

The other investigation stems from a report filed by the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office and relates, among other possible issues, to irregularities in public contracts.

The same investigation led to the arrest of businessman Antxon Alonso on Thursday by the Guardia Civil’s Central Operative Unit (UCO).

Authorities regard Alonso as a business associate of Santos Cerdán, former No. 3 in the Socialist Party (PSOE).

They broadened the extent of the National Court investigation, but they are still not connected with the events unfolding in the Plus Ultra.

UCO agents were responsible for the arrests related to the Anticorruption complaint, but the action at the headquarters of Plus Ultra on Thursday was directed by the National Police.

Agents targeted the airline and were acting under orders to obtain fiscal data from Madrid’s Court No. 15.

Court No. 15 has previously reviewed the airline’s 53 million euro rescue

The same Madrid court that is handling Thursday’s search had previously scrutinised Plus Ultra’s €53 million bailout from 2021.

That rescue package came from SEPI’s Solvency Support Fund for Strategic Companies, and it was approved by a government order dated March 9, 2021.

The earlier lawsuit investigated whether the bailout was a criminal act. Finally, the investigating judge, with the support of the Madrid Provincial Court, determined that no crime had been committed.

The judge determined that the real-decree assistance measures were properly implemented and dismissed allegations of theft, bribery, misconduct, influence peddling, or fraudulent receipt of public funds.

Manos Limpias, the Popular Party (PP), and Vox all filed complaints alleging these claims.

The now-closed investigation centred on Bartolomé Lara, SEPI’s acting president at the time, as well as the institution’s board.

Although the court dismissed the complaint, Thursday’s operation suggests that Court No. 15 is pursuing a new line of investigation, this time focused on alleged money-laundering actions unconnected to the bailout.

Plus Ultra says it is cooperating fully

Plus Ultra sources told EFE that the airline has fully cooperated with authorities.

They stated that the corporation is “providing all the documentation required, which is limited to the economic-financial area,” and that the activity should not be understood as a formal search in the criminal sense.

The airline emphasised that it is working openly with investigators and is confident in the processes. The details of the alleged money-laundering plot are currently secret, as ordered by Madrid’s Court No. 15.

While the two tracks of the judicial operation, one for suspected irregularities in the public contract and the other for irregularities in the documentation the airline was supposed to present, are moving forward simultaneously, Spanish authorities are attempting to piece together the disparate strands of the investigation that began this week.

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