Arrests Stem from Canary Islands Property Raids
The National Police operation that led to the arrest of the president and CEO of Spanish airline Plus Ultra has its origins in a series of property raids carried out in 2024 in Tenerife, Madrid, and Mallorca. These raids were initiated following alerts received by Spain’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor from Swiss and French authorities concerning suspicious bank transactions linked to a money laundering network connected to Venezuela’s Chavista regime.
French authorities requested search and entry warrants for properties in Madrid, Pozuelo, and Tenerife, while Swiss officials asked for a raid on a property in Mallorca. In all cases, the properties were linked to partners who managed or collaborated with the money laundering network under investigation, which had ties to Plus Ultra airline. The raids put the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor on the trail of the company, investigating whether it diverted funds from a €53 million government bailout injected after the pandemic and used them to launder Venezuelan capital through France, Switzerland, and Spain.
Canary Islands Connection and Judicial Path
The airline’s link to the Canary Islands dates back to the Covid health crisis, when the Canary Islands Government awarded, without a tender process, two direct flights to China to bring back face masks. These flights were operated by Plus Ultra aircraft subcontracted by the company One Airways.
The Prosecutor’s complaint was initially filed with Spain’s Audiencia Nacional court, but this judicial body rejected it for lack of jurisdiction. The Prosecutor then turned to Madrid’s Court of Instruction number 15, which had already opened a case into this bailout, though it was initially archived. It was this court that ultimately ordered the raid on the airline’s headquarters and the arrest of its executives.
International Probe into Criminal Network
The inquiries by French and Swiss prosecutors led to a request for cooperation from Spain due to the existence of a criminal organisation dedicated to money laundering operating on Spanish soil. Its activities allegedly involved crimes of embezzlement in Venezuela and insider trading in France. The investigation into Plus Ultra’s activities remains open and under court secrecy, so the identity of the owners of the raided properties, including the one in Tenerife, and their participation in the money laundering scheme being investigated in Spain and other countries has not yet been revealed.
The chronological origin of the investigations dates back to 2021 with an alert about suspicious banking movements detected by Switzerland’s financial intelligence unit, which were repeated in 2023. Also in 2021, French financial authorities (Parquet National Financier) opened their own investigation, while the Geneva Prosecutor’s Office directed its inquiries towards four suspects and a company based in the tax haven of Mauritius, with accounts whose beneficiaries were under “international sanctions.”
Bailout Funds and Complex Financial Flows
French and Swiss authorities contacted Spain’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor to carry out a series of raids on properties in Tenerife, Mallorca, and Madrid. After analysing the gathered information, the Prosecutor accused Plus Ultra of using the government bailout in the money laundering scheme and passed the case to the Audiencia Nacional, which declined jurisdiction. Anti-Corruption continued by transferring the file to Madrid’s Court of Instruction number 15.
Suspicions focus on officials of the Chavista regime linked to state basic food programmes, known as Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP), and to gold sales from the Bank of Venezuela. The Audiencia Nacional’s court order notes that this alleged criminal organisation involves foreign persons naturalised as Spanish and at least one Spanish lawyer.
The investigation into these illicit funds resulted in the complaint filed by Anti-Corruption for the alleged misuse of Spanish public aid, specifically the €53 million received by Plus Ultra airline granted by the Council of Ministers in March 2021. The airline appears as the signatory and beneficiary of alleged loan contracts with three companies from the criminal organisation, involved in gold sales. These contracts, in turn, provide cover for corresponding repayments by Plus Ultra on dates consecutive to the receipt of public aid to overseas accounts of companies that are part of the criminal organisation.
The ramifications included in the Prosecutor’s complaint are varied, as they also refer to the sale of gold worth €30 million to a company in the United Arab Emirates and the transfer of amounts by the same company to another firm’s account in Panama. Some clients of this network allegedly dedicated to money laundering have police and criminal records in Spain. Furthermore, the sale of luxury watches may also have been used for this illicit activity. The Prosecutor considers it a fraud against the State for Plus Ultra to have diverted part of the public aid received to overseas accounts of companies that are part of the criminal organisation under investigation.
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