Spain: Former PM Zapatero Accused Of Leading Illegal ‘Influence-Peddling Network’

By Inés Fernández-Pontes

(EurActiv) — Spain’s top criminal court is investigating José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the former Socialist prime minister, as part of allegations on money laundering linked to a controversial bailout of a Spanish airline with ties to Venezuela.

National Court judge José Luis Calama on Tuesday summoned Zapatero to the dock on 2 June to provide evidence as part of a months-long investigation into the whereabouts of €53 million provided in state aid to rescue the Plus Ultra air carrier in 2021.

Calama identified Zapatero as the alleged leader of “a stable, hierarchical influence-peddling network” aimed at obtaining “financial gain through intermediation and the exercise of influence with public authorities on behalf of third parties, primarily Plus Ultra”.

The judge noted that investigators have confirmed the existence of “an organised scheme of illicit influence-peddling, structurally organised and led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who allegedly put his personal contacts and his ability to access high-ranking government officials at the service of third parties interested in obtaining favorable decisions”.

Via the prime minister’s intermediation, the judge explained, Plus Ultra allegedly secured the multi-million public bailout through “mechanisms outside the legally established channels”.

The former premier is facing charges including membership of a criminal organisation, influence peddling and forgery, according to local reports.

As reported by newspaper El País, the National Police’s Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit, known as UDEF, conducted an operation on Tuesday with raids on Zapatero’s office and three other business premises.

Back in December, UDEF agents conducted a raid on the headquarters of Plus Ultra, and detained the president of the airline, Julio Martínez Sola, and its CEO, Roberto Roselli, a Venezuelan national, on charges of money laundering.

Until then, a Madrid court had been conducting a secret investigation into a suspected corruption scheme linked to the controversial bailout of the airline, approved by high-level government officials with “urgent procedure” at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Spanish Socialist government led by Pedro Sánchez had labelled Plus Ultra a “strategic company” despite being a minor airline, with it’s main route being Spain-Venezuela.

Public prosecutors were examining whether the bailout was used to launder public funds and gold from Venezuela within a wider scheme operating in Spain, France and Switzerland, whose authorities had requested international cooperation from anti-corruption authorities.

During the operation, the police also registered companies belonging to Julio Martínez Martínez, an unknown businessman who was arrested then, who, according to local investigative reports, is alleged to have acted as a front man for Zapatero, providing the former prime minister with hundreds of thousands of euros in illicit funds for “consultancy” services.

This is the first time since Spain’s transition to democracy that a prime minister is under investigation in a corruption case.

Zapatero has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in his work as a consultant and has distanced himself from the Plus Ultra bailout. Until now, the investigation remained under strict judicial secrecy.