Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Investigates Possible Embezzlement of Jewels Seized from Zapatero
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office argues that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero appropriated institutional gifts that should have been handed over to State Heritage. The crime under investigation could carry sentences of up to eight years in prison.
Anti-Corruption requests investigation into Zapatero jewels
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office sees indications of a possible crime of embezzlement of public funds in connection with the acquisition of jewels seized in the office of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, according to El Confidencial. Prosecutor Elena Lorente argues in her written submission that the former president accepted institutional gifts without handing them over to State Heritage, as required by regulations in force during his term of office.
The Public Prosecution Service notes that Zapatero, as President of the Government until November 2011, was obliged to place gifts received by virtue of his position as head of the Executive at the disposal of Heritage. The Prosecutor's Office emphasises that the aggravated subtype of the embezzlement crime carries sentences of up to eight years in prison and 20 years of disqualification from public office, and argues that the crime has not prescribed.
The prosecutor cites as an example the objects given by King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz to the then president, which were indeed handed over to Heritage according to the report of 1 March 2012. However, according to the Anti-Corruption office, the "jewels of very significant value" seized in Zapatero's office do not appear in official transfer records.
Zapatero's Government promoted the Code of Good Governance, which established that members of the Executive should reject gifts of significant value, unless they were incorporated into State heritage. The Prosecutor's Office highlights this contradiction: the former president took part in approving a regulation that he himself appears to have breached.
Judge José Luis Calama has requested that the State Heritage General Subdirectorate submit all documentation concerning institutional gifts received during Zapatero's governments between 2004 and 2011. The investigating judge has set a deadline of two days for this delivery, prior to a ruling on requests from the defence and the Prosecutor's Office.
Zapatero's defence argues that the jewels in question were a personal gift from Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz during a visit to Madrid in June 2007, accepted "out of deference and as a sign of gratitude and respect". The defence proposed a judicial letter rogatory to Saudi Arabia to clarify the origin of the pieces.
The Anti-Corruption office rejected the request for investigation in Saudi territory. The Public Prosecution Service argues that the measure is unnecessary because it concerns a monarch who is now deceased and believes that the focus should be on Spain, specifically on the office of the President of the Government, where according to Zapatero the jewels were handed over to him.
Source: El Confidencial