An influence-peddling and money-laundering network allegedly led by former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is now the subject of a formal inquiry by Spain's National Court, with the probe centering on his alleged ties to the state rescue of Spanish airline Plus Ultra, according to ABC News.
Plus Ultra received €53 million (about $62 million) in public money in 2021 as part of COVID-19 recovery funds, according to ABC News. According to the court, the alleged scheme involved using political influence to push public officials toward approving the aid package, with Plus Ultra as the principal beneficiary of that lobbying.
Judge José Luis Calama identified signs that roughly €1.95 million was moved through a combination of front companies, falsified paperwork, and deliberately obscure financial routes designed to mask where the money came from and where it went, according to NBC News. Zapatero was summoned to answer a judge's questions on June 2, and police carried out a search of his office this week, according to ABC News.
Zapatero, 65, served as prime minister from 2004 to 2011 and is a member of the Socialist party led by current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. He denied any wrongdoing, and had previously told a Senate hearing in March that he "never received any commissions from Plus Ultra," according to ABC News.
U.S. authorities also played a part in building the case. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to NBC News that its Madrid-based Homeland Security Investigations unit had worked alongside Spanish national police on what was described as a probe into the laundering of international public funds, an effort that ultimately contributed to the legal proceedings now targeting Zapatero. According to NBC News, court documents show that HSI pulled data from a phone belonging to Rodolfo Reyes — a Plus Ultra-linked individual who faces his own investigation — and turned that material over to Spanish authorities.
Operating routes that connect Spain with Venezuela, Peru, and Ecuador, Plus Ultra is a carrier registered in Spain but backed in part by Venezuelan investors, according to ABC News. Since leaving office, Zapatero has been active in dialogue efforts with the Venezuelan government.
The investigation arrives as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's party has struggled through a run of corruption controversies in recent years, according to ABC News.