Former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is appearing before an investigating judge today and Thursday following indictments for influence peddling and money laundering. The central judicial authority, Spain’s Audiência Nacional, confirmed that the high-profile case has additionally expanded to encompass suspected tax fraud and smuggling.
The new charges emerged after judicial authorities discovered undeclared luxury jewelry valued at 1.3 million euros hidden inside a safe during a raid of the former prime minister’s private office.
The legal proceeding against the former leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) stems from an extensive judicial inquiry originally launched to investigate the controversial 2021 financial bailout of the airline Plus Ultra.
According to official court summaries, investigators suspect that Zapatero spearheaded a “stable and hierarchically structured influence-peddling network.” This operation was allegedly designed to secure illicit economic benefits by leveraging high-level political influence within public institutions to favor corporate third parties, primarily Plus Ultra.
Read more about this topic: Spain: Zapatero investigated for tax fraud and smuggling over jewels in safe
Judicial authorities are further scrutinizing the suspected use of shell companies and falsified documentation to mask the origin and destination of illicit funds. Notably, the financial trail includes a commercial entity where Zapatero’s own daughters serve as partners and corporate administrators.
The airline at the heart of the scandal, Plus Ultra, which maintains deep corporate ties to Venezuela, received a 53-million-euro loan bailout in 2021 from the current Spanish government led by fellow Socialist Pedro Sánchez. At the time, the Sánchez administration had established a 10-billion-euro emergency fund to salvage companies deemed “strategic” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am entirely innocent and intend to offer my full, absolute cooperation to the judicial system,” the 65-year-old Zapatero stated ahead of his closed-door testimony.
Zapatero, who served as Spain’s Prime Minister from April 2004 to December 2011, remains a monumental figure within contemporary Spanish politics.
Read more about this topic: Spain: Sánchez maintains support for Zapatero
The ex-PM was a highly visible, key surrogate for Pedro Sánchez during the contentious July 2023 national elections, with domestic media widely labeling him as the PSOE’s “greatest electoral asset.”
This burgeoning judicial investigation adds to a mounting series of legal headaches for the current administration, which is already grappling with separate corruption and influence-peddling probes targeting Premier Sánchez’s wife, brother, former cabinet ministers, and regional party leaders.
