Zapatero under investigation for influence peddling in Plus Ultra case
The National Court is investigating the former president for alleged irregular commissions linked to a 53 million euro bail-out of Plus Ultra airline. He will testify on 2 June.
Zapatero charged at the National Court over Plus Ultra case
Former government president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is listed as under investigation in a corruption case before the National Court, according to El País. Judge José Luis Calama, head of Central Investigating Court Number 4, has lifted the secrecy order that had covered the investigation for months, which was initiated together with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.
This is the first time in Spanish democracy that a former government president has been placed under investigation in a case of this nature.
The charges: influence peddling and related offences
Zapatero has been charged with influence peddling and other related offences in the framework of an investigation into alleged money laundering of opaque funds from Venezuela, linked to the public bail-out of 53 million euros that the Government handed to the Spanish-Venezuelan airline Plus Ultra following the pandemic.
Judge Calama places him as the alleged leader of "a stable and hierarchical structure for influence peddling" whose purpose "is the obtaining of economic benefits through intermediation and the exercise of influence before public bodies in favour of third parties, principally Plus Ultra", according to the National Court. The investigating judge sets the irregular commissions that Zapatero and people from his circle may have received within the alleged scheme at 1.95 million euros.
Zapatero to testify on 2 June
The former president will have to appear before the National Court on 2 June at 9.00 a.m., assisted by a lawyer. As an investigated party, he may choose to exercise his right not to testify or to answer only questions from his defence.
Zapatero already reacted publicly on Tuesday through a video in which he confirmed having received the court notification. He expressed his willingness to "collaborate with justice" and asserted that all his public and private activity "has always been conducted with absolute respect for the law". "I have never had a commercial company either directly or through third parties, neither in Spain nor outside Spain, nor have I participated in any operation of this type", he emphasised.
In March, during his appearance before the Senate investigation committee in the Koldo case, the former president already denied any irregularity related to the airline: "I have not received any commission from Plus Ultra, never". He explained that he only participated as a consultant for the company Análisis Relevante and that he was unaware that this commercial entity also worked for the airline.
Search of his office and other related premises
Agents from the Unit for Economic and Tax Crime (UDEF) searched the former president's office on Tuesday, located on Ferraz Street in Madrid. The judge authorised the seizure of electronic devices—telephones, computers and tablets—as well as diaries, accounting documentation, invoices and contracts.
The magistrate also ordered the seizure of the mobile telephone of Zapatero's secretary, María Gertrudis Alcázar, considering that there are indications that she "plays an essential operative role within an organised network aimed at the illicit exercise of influence".
The agents also searched the headquarters of the marketing and communications agency of the former president's daughters, What The Fav, and two other commercial entities linked to the case. Zapatero acknowledged in the Senate that he proposed to Análisis Relevante that his daughters provide communications and marketing services. According to the judge, the young women's company "does not conduct ordinary business activity, but rather acts as an instrumental vehicle for the generation of ad hoc invoicing, the redistribution of funds and the provision of formal cover for economic operations linked to the network".
The core of the investigation: the Plus Ultra bail-out
Judge Calama is investigating the alleged "improper use" of the 53 million euros that Plus Ultra received from the Spanish Government in March 2021 as aid for losses resulting from the pandemic. The investigating judge is trying to determine whether the alleged scheme used instrumental companies, simulated documentation and opaque financial channels to "exercise illicit influence, conceal the origin and destination of the funds and obtain economic benefits in favour of third parties and of the network itself".
The origin: cooperation requests from France and Switzerland
The investigation began in 2024, when the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office received two requests for international cooperation to dismantle a "criminal organisation" dedicated to money laundering of opaque funds from Venezuela. France and Switzerland were requesting a series of searches in flats and houses in Madrid, Tenerife and Mallorca.
According to documentation to which El País has had access, the international authorities warned that Venezuelan public officials had diverted funds "of very large sums" to Europe illegally. The money came from the chavista food distribution programmes—the Local Committees for Supply and Production, known as C.L.A.P.—and from gold sales. To launder it, the alleged scheme allegedly weaponised the Plus Ultra bail-out.
Prior to this investigation, a Madrid court had opened a case in 2021 to examine the same bail-out, following a complaint by Manos Limpias. That proceeding had to be archived due to an error during its processing.
Source: El País