A windfall built on frozen gold and opaque offshore channels
Maduro's state bank offered massive commission to recover Venezuelan gold worth over $1 billion held in UAE, targeting rival Guaidó's international assets. Spanish businessman Julio Martínez allegedly acted as intermediary through offshore entities in Virgin Islands and Dubai, facilitating negotiations with Emirati firm Noor Capital.
- Maduro's state bank offered 8.75% commission to recover approximately 27 tons of Venezuelan gold worth over $1 billion held in UAE
- Julio Martínez Martínez, an Alicante businessman, was contracted to negotiate recovery through Landside Holding in the British Virgin Islands
- The same network simultaneously created Landside Middle East in Dubai to collect payments from Plus Ultra airline, which received a 53-million-euro Spanish government rescue in March 2021
- Contract dated December 2020, during period when Juan Guaidó was internationally recognized as Venezuela's legitimate president
Venezuela's Maduro regime offered an 8.75% commission to a network allegedly led by former Spanish PM Zapatero to recover gold assets held in UAE, part of broader scheme involving offshore accounts and alleged corruption.
In December 2020, as Venezuela's political crisis deepened, Nicolás Maduro's regime made an unusual offer to a network that Spanish courts believe was directed by former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The state development bank, known as Bandes, instructed one of its executives to contact Julio Martínez Martínez, an Alicante businessman, with a lucrative proposition: recover Venezuelan assets frozen abroad, and take an 8.75 percent commission on whatever was retrieved.
The assets in question were substantial. In 2017, Maduro's government had transferred control of approximately 27 tons of gold—valued at over one billion dollars at the time—to an Emirati firm called Noor Capital in exchange for immediate liquidity. By 2020, the political landscape had shifted. Juan Guaidó, recognized by Spain and dozens of other nations as Venezuela's legitimate president, claimed authority over those foreign holdings. Countries like Britain were freezing Venezuelan gold reserves, treating Guaidó as the rightful owner. Maduro needed the money back, and he needed intermediaries who could operate in the shadows.
Enter Martínez and his company, Landside Holding, registered in the British Virgin Islands. According to court documents obtained by El Mundo, Bandes offered him a straightforward deal: negotiate with Noor Capital on Venezuela's behalf to recover the deposited funds, and pocket nearly nine percent of whatever came back. The contract specified that Martínez would represent the Venezuelan state in talks with the Emirati firm, authorized to negotiate terms and conditions for the asset recovery. The bank committed to paying him his percentage once commissions and approved negotiation expenses were deducted. It was, in the language of Spanish finance, a "pelotazo"—a windfall, a jackpot.
What makes this arrangement remarkable is not merely its scale but its architecture. The same network that Zapatero allegedly directed was simultaneously constructing a parallel financial infrastructure. Weeks after signing the Bandes contract, Martínez's associates created another entity: Landside Middle East, a subsidiary of an Alicante consulting firm called Idella Consulenza, registered in Dubai's Free Zone. At the time, the United Arab Emirates was officially classified by Spanish tax authorities as a fiscal paradise. According to the investigating judge, José Luis Calama, Zapatero had instructed Martínez to establish this opaque structure.
The purpose was explicit: create a platform where clients—particularly Chinese ones—could make payments without triggering the regulatory scrutiny that American banking controls impose on Spanish financial institutions. This was not theoretical. The airline Plus Ultra became the test case. In March 2021, Spain's cabinet approved a 53-million-euro government rescue for the struggling carrier. According to judicial investigators, Landside Middle East was positioned to collect a one-percent commission from Plus Ultra in exchange for facilitating that bailout. The airline subsequently made payments to the network equivalent to that percentage.
What emerges from the court file is a scheme with multiple moving parts, all operating simultaneously. Maduro's regime was trying to recover frozen assets through offshore intermediaries. Zapatero's network was building financial channels to move money from foreign clients while evading American oversight. And a Spanish government rescue package was being leveraged to generate commissions for the same actors. The judicial investigation has connected these threads, but the full scope of what happened with the Bandes contract—whether the gold recovery was ever actually attempted, whether any funds changed hands, what role the Emirati firm ultimately played—remains unclear. What is certain is that by late 2020, the boundaries between Venezuela's state interests, Spanish political networks, and opaque offshore finance had become dangerously blurred.
Citações Notáveis
Bandes offered to pay the designated representative 8.75 percent of recovered funds, deducting approved negotiation expenses, in exchange for negotiating with Noor Capital on Venezuela's behalf— Bandes contract terms, as documented in court file
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why would Maduro trust a Spanish network to recover his own money? Wouldn't he have his own people?
By 2020, Maduro was isolated. Western countries had frozen his assets. He needed people who could operate in places like the UAE without triggering sanctions or legal challenges. A Spanish network with political connections could move more freely than Venezuelan officials.
And Zapatero's involvement—was he directly managing this, or was it more hands-off?
The court documents suggest he directed it, but the evidence is structural rather than explicit. His name doesn't appear on contracts. What appears is a network of companies, all moving in coordinated ways, all connected to Martínez. The pattern suggests direction from above.
The gold itself—27 tons. That's real wealth. Did anyone actually try to get it back?
That's the question the investigation hasn't fully answered. The contract was signed. The offer was made. But the judicial file doesn't reveal whether negotiations with Noor Capital ever happened, or whether any recovery was attempted. It's possible the whole thing was a setup, or it's possible it failed quietly.
And Plus Ultra—that seems like a separate scheme entirely.
It is and it isn't. The same offshore structure that was supposed to handle the Venezuelan gold was also collecting commissions from a Spanish airline rescue. It suggests this wasn't about one transaction. It was about building a permanent financial channel that could move money without scrutiny.
So the Spanish government may have inadvertently funded Zapatero's network?
The timeline is damning. The rescue was approved in March 2021. Plus Ultra made payments to the network equivalent to one percent of the bailout amount. Whether the government knew what was happening is what investigators are still trying to establish.