Zapatero braces for unprecedented court testimony on Plus Ultra rescue and €1.3m jewels cache

An unprecedented hearing

For the first time in Spanish democratic history, a former prime minister will testify as a suspect. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is due before the Audiencia Nacional on Wednesday 17 June at 9 a.m., the same hour as the government control session in Congress. A second day, 18 June, has been reserved in case the questioning requires extra time. Zapatero has engaged the procedural specialist Víctor Moreno Catena to lead his defence.

His whole life has been torn open. Everything is broken right now. He is eager to explain everything.

The appearance comes after the judge opened a separate piece of the investigation focused on the jewels found in a safe in Zapatero’s office. The UDEF police unit discovered the cache, later appraised by Ansorena and the Gemological Institute at over 1.3 million euros.

The jewels and the tax probe

The valuation dwarfs the 30,000 to 50,000 euros initially cited by the former president’s entourage. Judge Calama’s ruling states that the absence of customs documentation, import invoices or any aduana clearance suggests the jewels may have entered the EU clandestinely.

The introduction, possession or circulation in national territory of jewels whose total value amounts to approximately 1,323,915 euros, without proof of payment of customs duties, special taxes or levies linked to their import, constitutes an objective indication that such goods may have entered the customs territory of the European Union evading controls and fiscal obligations.

Zapatero’s spokesman Luis Arroyo apologised this week for having initially misrepresented the value of the jewels. He told TVE’s Malas lenguas that the former prime minister wishes to “send a message of innocence that he maintains at 200%.”

Political fallout for the PSOE

The opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo has seized on the case to demand early elections and what he calls a “national reconstruction” in the face of degradation. The PP will use the parallel timing of Zapatero’s testimony and the congressional control session to amplify pressure on Pedro Sánchez.

Inside the PSOE, the mood is described as one of “preoccupation” and “desolation.” Publicly the party stands by the former leader, but privately senior figures admit the case is damaging the prime minister’s aim of completing the full legislature. According to the CIS polling institute, the affair has already cost the Socialists five points in voting intention and worsened public opinion of Sánchez.

The Plus Ultra network

The main proceedings allege that Zapatero sat at the “apex” of a network that exercised “non-visible leadership,” leveraging “high-level institutional and business contacts” to secure advantages for the Venezuelan airline Plus Ultra. The investigation began with a cooperation request from French and Swiss prosecutors targeting an international money-laundering operation linked to Venezuelan public funds. Those leads pointed to the 53‑million‑euro rescue loan granted to Plus Ultra by the Sánchez government.

A WhatsApp chat labelled “Danilo España” found on seized devices contains references to “Z” or “Zorro,” whom investigators link to Zapatero. The first arrests were made last December.

A week of judicial pressure

Zapatero’s appearance is only one of several court dates buffeting the Socialists this week. On Monday, Begoña Gómez, the wife of Prime Minister Sánchez, is cited for a jury trial hearing. On Tuesday, the Guardia Civil director Mercedes González must account to the Senate for her meetings with former socialist militant Leire Díez. A verdict is also expected in the first case against former minister José Luis Ábalos.