The Plus Ultra rescue and initial charges

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain’s prime minister from 2004 to 2011, was already under formal investigation in the so-called ‘Plus Ultra case’ since a police unit delivered the court order at his home on 19 May. The judge, José Luis Calama of the Audiencia Nacional, had placed him at the “vertex” of an alleged criminal organisation that intervened in the 2021 state bailout of airline Plus Ultra. The original counts include influence peddling, money laundering and document falsification.

Discovery of the jewels and new accusations

When the UDEF economic crime unit searched Zapatero’s office on Madrid’s Calle Ferraz, agents found a safe containing emeralds, diamonds and sapphires from Zambia and Thailand. A valuation by auction house Ansorena and the Spanish Gemological Institute priced the haul at €1,323,915. Judge Calama acted with speed, opening a fresh inquiry on Friday into tax crime and contraband before the former leader could present an express tax regularisation that might have extinguished criminal liability.

“The judge moved to block a possible exprés settlement with the tax authorities that would carry penal exemption.”

Zapatero’s limited legal options

With the new proceedings already in motion, any tax regularisation now would only serve as a mitigating factor following an admission of guilt. Sources cited by El Mundo consider it highly likely that the defence will argue the jewels were gifts received after leaving office and that any fiscal offence has prescribed. The statute-of-limitations route, however, requires the former president to clear a further evidentiary hurdle.

Political firestorm and PSOE defence

PP deputy secretary Carmen Fúnez declared that “in Pedro Sánchez, corruption, government and party converge.” She insisted the cases are not isolated and that “everything starts and ends with Pedro Sánchez.” Reyes Maroto, PSOE’s municipal spokeswoman and the minister for industry when the Plus Ultra bailout was approved in March 2021, called for respect of the presumption of innocence: “We have to let justice work; we are at the beginning of a procedure.”

“We have to let justice work; we are at the beginning of a procedure, and above all defend the presumption of innocence in a democratic state like Spain.”

Mounting pressure on the government

Zapatero is due to testify as an investigated party on Wednesday at 9 a.m., the same time as the government control session in Congress, guaranteeing a high-voltage clash between Sánchez and PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo. PSOE officials privately admit a “hard blow” that complicates the prime minister’s effort to exhaust the legislature. The week’s calendar also includes Begoña Gómez’s appearance before a jury court, the Guardia Civil director’s Senate hearing and the possible verdict in the Ábalos case. A CIS poll already shows the party losing five points in voting intention and a worsening opinion of the president.

A democratic first

Zapatero is the first former Spanish prime minister to be formally charged since the return of democracy. The investigation now spans five counts: influence peddling, money laundering, document falsification, tax fraud and contraband.