Former Spanish PM Zapatero charged over alleged influencepeddling scheme

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been charged as the alleged leader of a stable, hierarchical influence-peddling structure aimed at obtaining economic benefits through intermediation and exerting influence before public bodies on behalf of third parties, mainly Plus Ultra. Investigators are examining a possible money-laundering scheme connected to a 53 million public bailout granted to the airline after the Covid-19 pandemic. Judge Jose Luis Calama of Investigative Court No. 4 has summoned Zapatero to testify on June 2. The Attorney General’s Office has been investigating since 2024 the whereabouts of bailout funds granted in March 2021, following information requests from Switzerland and France. The court order alleges that Zapatero and people in his circle received 1.95 million in improper payments from the bailout case, routed through multiple companies and directed to Zapatero and Whathefav SL, owned by his daughters.

"Former Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been charged as the alleged leader of a stable and hierarchical influencepeddling structure whose purpose was to obtain economic benefits through intermediation and the exertion of influence before public bodies on behalf of third parties, mainly [the airline] Plus Ultra."

"The investigation is examining the alleged existence of a moneylaundering scheme linked to the public bailout of 53 million (about $57.2 million) that the government granted to the airline after the Covid-19 pandemic. Judge Jose Luis Calama, head of Investigative Court No. 4 of the National Court, has summoned the former leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) to testify next June 2."

"In the court order summoning Zapatero to testify, Judge Calama alleges that former prime minister and people in his circle received 1.95 million ($2.11 million) in improper payments from the Plus Ultra bailout case. In his court order, the judge says the payments under suspicion came from three different companies and were directed to Zapatero himself and to Whathefav SL, a company owned by his two daughters."

"The Attorney General's Office, led by Alejandro Luzon, has been looking since 2024 into the whereabouts of the bailout funds granted in March 2021, after receiving two information requests from authorities in Switzerland and France regarding alleged moneylaundering activities in those countries."

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