Zapatero's agendas expose extensive access to Sánchez government amid corruption probe

The Plus Ultra case expands

Spanish authorities have widened an investigation that began with the 2020 public bailout of airline Plus Ultra, a rescue worth 53 million euros approved by Pedro Sánchez's government. The National Court judge José Luis Calama is now examining Zapatero's consultancy work for Análisis Relevante, his dealings with Latin American companies, and even jewellery found in a safe at his office. The probe was triggered in 2024 when French and Swiss authorities alerted Spanish prosecutors to possible money laundering linked to Venezuela, and it gained fresh momentum in March 2026 after US-intercepted messages from Venezuelan national Rodolfo Reyes.

The facts analyzed in this report support, in the investigators' view, the indications of the existence of a criminal organization, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, which, taking advantage of his contacts and international public standing, would engage in illicit influence peddling for the benefit of various clients.

Agendas reveal deep ties to the government

Zapatero's diaries for 2024 and 2025, obtained by the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF), document a constant stream of meetings with the highest levels of the current Spanish executive. At least ten encounters with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez are recorded, some at the Moncloa palace, including a lunch on 18 September 2024 and a coffee on 9 October 2024. The former leader also met with 13 ministers, most frequently Justice Minister Félix Bolaños (11 times), along with María Jesús Montero, Óscar Puente, Yolanda Díaz and others. Contacts with Podemos figures Ione Belarra and Pablo Echenique, as well as with Junts members, underline his role as a behind-the-scenes mediator for the government's legislative agenda.

The Bolivia connection

In September 2024, Zapatero travelled to Bolivia accompanied by Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of UN Tourism. The UDEF alleges the trip was aimed at securing a 200,000-euro commission from a Peruvian company by lobbying Bolivian president Luis Arce, with daily expenses of 10,000 euros. Zapatero's secretary, Gertrudis Alcázar, pressed Pololikashvili to join the trip, and the former PM later arranged meetings between the UN official and his business associates, the Amaro Chacón brothers. The UDEF does not implicate Pololikashvili in the alleged kickback scheme.

Zapatero prepares his defence

Six months before his formal indictment, Zapatero began assembling a detailed record of his assets, travels and tax data from 2020 onward. After the December 2025 arrest of his friend Julio Martínez, who ran Análisis Relevante, Zapatero told Alcázar: "All that is inevitable. We have to assume we have an acid season ahead." He ordered a reconstruction of every trip to Venezuela and insisted that his secretary confirm he had never made any management on anyone's behalf, citing only a long friendship with Martínez.

All that is inevitable. We have to assume we have an acid season ahead.

Political fallout

Zapatero was a crucial electoral asset for the Socialist Party until 19 May 2026, when his indictment for illicit influence peddling became public. The leaked agendas and messages have laid bare the daily routine of a former prime minister operating as a shadow power broker. His access to the government, including a meeting with then Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz on the day the latter learned of the indictment of Isabel Díaz Ayuso's partner, and an audience with King Felipe VI, has fuelled accusations of a "general cause" against him, while his legal team argues the investigation is tainted by leaks.