The Spanish Prime Minister maintained his support today for his predecessor, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who is accused of influence peddling, following the release earlier this week of new details regarding the ongoing investigation.
“I think there is no sufficient reason, there is no motive to change that position,” Pedro Sánchez declared during a press conference at the Vatican, following a meeting with Pope Leo XIV.
Sánchez stated that he maintains the position made public last week in the plenary session of Congress, after the accusation against the former head of Government became known.
He said he read the judge’s ruling, became aware of the case through the media, spoke with people “who know much more about law” than he does, and sees no reason to alter his stance.
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“Total collaboration with justice, total respect for the presumption of innocence of President Zapatero, and all my support for President Zapatero,” he stated, recalling the words spoken on the floor of Congress.
Asked whether reading the case files raised any doubts, he insisted that he sees no elements that “at this moment” would lead him to change his position.
Zapatero will be heard by the court on June 17 and 18 in the case where he is indicted for influence peddling, judicial authorities indicated on Tuesday.
The former Spanish prime minister was notified last week to give a statement to the investigating judge on June 2 in Madrid, but the defense for Zapatero, who is also a former leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), requested more time, citing that they only gained access to the case files on Monday.
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The judge granted the request and scheduled Zapatero’s hearing for June 17 and 18, Spain’s National Court, the jurisdiction handling the instruction, later informed.
The Spanish justice system revealed a week ago that Zapatero, prime minister between 2004 and 2011, is being investigated “for crimes of influence peddling and other related offenses.”
Spain’s National Court also stated that the matter involves a judicial process “opened to investigate the rescue of the airline Plus Ultra” in 2021.
According to the summary of the judicial case, Zapatero is suspected of leading “a stable and hierarchical structure of influence peddling” with the aim of obtaining “economic benefits” through “influence in public bodies in favor of third parties, principally Plus Ultra.”
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The investigation also suspects the use of companies and simulated documentation “to exercise illicit influence” and launder money, specifically to hide the origin and destination of funds, including a company whose directors and partners are Zapatero’s daughters.
The justice system suspects that Zapatero and his two daughters received more than two million euros irregularly. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, 65, maintained his innocence and promised total collaboration with the justice system.
The company Plus Ultra, considered small in scale, benefited in 2021 from a financial rescue of 53 million euros, granted in the form of a loan by the Spanish government, led by the socialist Pedro Sánchez, who at the time created a ten-billion-euro fund to rescue companies considered strategic that were facing difficulties due to covid-19.
The Government has expressed tranquility and “respect for justice,” but without forgetting “the fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence,” regarding the investigation into Zapatero and also in relation to the rescue of Plus Ultra.
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Zapatero was one of Sánchez’s biggest supporters in the last Spanish elections in July 2023, and was even labeled by the press as the PSOE’s current “great electoral asset.”
The judicial investigation into Zapatero adds to others involving other people close to or formerly close to Sánchez, such as a former minister, ex-leaders of the PSOE, or the brother and wife of the prime minister, who are accused or being investigated for corruption or influence peddling.
