Spain: Socialists ‘In Shock’ After Former PM Zapatero Faces Graft Allegations

By Inés Fernández-Pontes

(EurActiv) — A corruption investigation into José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, a former Socialist prime minister, has rocked Spain just as the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) reels from one of its hardest political blows to date.

Pedro Sánchez, current prime minister and a socialist who has long been close to Zapatero, publicly stood by the former premier, who is widely seen as Sánchez’s political mentor.

“My full cooperation with the judicial authorities, my full respect for the presumption of innocence, and my full support for Zapatero,” Sánchez told Congress during a plenary session on Wednesday.

Other PSOE officials had expressed their “shock” at the news that their former leader, who ruled Spain between 2004 and 2011, was allegedly at the centre of a money-laundering and influence-peddling scheme linked to the public bailout of Plus Ultra, a Spanish airline with links to Venezuela.

The national court is now investigating the case, and police agents raided Zapatero’s office on Tuesday, sending shockwaves across party ranks.

“I’m flabbergasted,” said Emiliano García-Page, regional socialist leader of Castilla-La-Mancha.

Former PSOE heavyweights, such as Eduardo Madina, who served as secretary general of the socialist parliamentary group while Zapatero was in office, claimed to be “in shock”.

The accusation comes at a delicate moment following the Andalusian elections, which dealt a severe blow to the PSOE in its former stronghold.

The party is also facing mounting corruption cases involving senior officials linked to Sánchez and his inner circle.

An international scheme

Spain’s top criminal court has summoned Zapatero to testify on 2 June.

Magistrate José Luis Calama is investigating him for being the alleged leader of an “illicit influence-peddling network” to obtain economic benefits from the “intermediation and the exercise of influence with public authorities on behalf of third parties”, including both governments and foreign companies.

In the case of Plus Ultra, the judge alleges that Zapatero lobbied Sánchez’s government to secure the Council of Ministers’ approval of a 2021 bailout for the company, despite it being a small airline, in exchange for kickbacks.

Zapatero had also allegedly ordered the creation of “at least” one “offshore company” in Dubai to pocket 1% of the bailout, some €530,000, without leaving a trace.

The alleged scheme allegedly used “shell companies, fabricated documents and opaque financial channels” to conceal the source and destination of the funds, Calama explained.

In exchange for mediating with the Spanish authorities to grant the bailout, among other activities, Zapatero and his daughters allegedly received up to €2 million, which were logged as consultancy services.

The allegations also touched upon a thorny issue, Zapatero’s years-long contacts with the governments of Venezuela and China, close ties that have been the subject of suspicion in Spain in recent years.

Calama points to Zapatero’s “direct involvement” in “high-value international transactions, such as those relating to a petroleum derivative, gold, and the buying and selling of shares or foreign currency.”

The court argues that intercepted communications revealed the network operated both in Spain and abroad, maintaining contacts with authorities and companies in Venezuela, China, and the United Arab Emirates, amongst others.

Zapatero has denied any wrongdoing and any further links to the bailout.

“All my public and private activities have been conducted in accordance with the law”, he said in a video shortly after the investigation was announced.