Zapatero denies influence peddling as Spain’s first ex-PM charged, judge says criminal indicators remain
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero appeared before the Audiencia Nacional on Wednesday as the first former Spanish prime minister ever charged. He rejected all allegations of influence peddling, money laundering, and tax fraud linked to the Plus Ultra airline bailout.
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero spent nearly three hours answering only the judge and his own lawyer’s questions in a packed courtroom in Madrid this Wednesday, 17 June 2026. The former Socialist prime minister, charged in mid-May with leading an organised criminal network, insisted he never intervened to secure a €53 million public rescue for the airline Plus Ultra and that the €490,780 he received from a consultancy linked to the case was legitimate income.
Charges and structure of the alleged scheme
The Audiencia Nacional is probing whether Zapatero headed a “stable and hierarchical structure” that traded on his influence to obtain economic benefits. According to the indictment, the network operated through Análisis Relevante, a firm run by his friend Julio Martínez Martínez, which paid Zapatero €490,780 and another €239,755 to What The Fav, a marketing agency set up by his daughters. The judge’s order describes three tiers: Zapatero at the top, Martínez as a second-level manager, and his secretary Gertrudis Alcázar together with Cristóbal Cano handling day‑to‑day financial logistics.
The investigation is clearly embryonic; everything could evolve towards consolidating these indicators, which are already sufficient at this procedural stage.
The Plus Ultra rescue
The central thread is the aid that the Socialist‑led cabinet approved in 2021 for the Venezuelan‑linked carrier under pandemic emergency measures. Prosecutors suspect Zapatero’s intense mediation activity in Venezuela was the key that unlocked the public funds. The former PM acknowledged maintaining contacts with the airline’s executives but said they never resulted in any intercession before state bodies. He described his work as international consulting, chiefly on Latin America, for Análisis Relevante and the firm Inteligencia Prospectiva.
- Spanish government rescues Plus Ultra with €53 million in pandemic aid.
- Jewellery worth €1.3 million found in Zapatero's office safe during a search.
- Judge Calama indicts Zapatero for alleged influence peddling, money laundering and related crimes.
- Zapatero testifies, denies all charges; judge maintains criminal indicators but imposes no precautionary measures.
Dubai company and secret assets
Judge Calama had stated in earlier rulings that the network intended to create a Dubai company to channel money and avoid tracing it in Spain. In response, Zapatero handed the court a document granting express consent for any foreign authority to be approached to verify that he holds no overseas assets.
The judge noted, however, that this declaration did not dispel the suspicions.I have absolutely nothing outside Spain.
The jewellery piece
The case took a separate turn on 19 May when investigators found high‑end jewellery valued at €1.3 million in a safe during a search of Zapatero’s office. He did not answer questions on this point, signalling that his defence needed time to compile paperwork proving the pieces were gifts from Saudi authorities during a 2007 state visit. His legal team argues that any tax or smuggling offences would already be time‑barred.
Precautionary measures denied
The anti‑corruption prosecutor Elena Lorente requested that Zapatero’s passport be withdrawn, that he be barred from leaving Spain, and that he report to a court every 15 days. Popular accusations led by the Partido Popular and joined by Vox, Hazte Oír and other groups went further, asking for pre‑trial detention. The judge refused all measures, pointing to Zapatero’s status as a public figure and the absence of any proven flight risk. Still, Calama stressed that the former PM’s testimony “has not managed to dispel the rational indicators of criminality” that justified the indictment.
Political reverberations
The case rattles the ruling Socialist party, which treats Zapatero as one of its most respected figures. Journalist Lucía Méndez cautioned that the investigation will be long and the judge will not issue quick political vindications.
Beyond the criminal side, there is a political problem that affects his image; with the facts already known, it is sufficiently damaged from an ethical and moral standpoint, whether or not a crime is proved.
