SHOCKWAVES rippled through the Spanish government after former prime minister Jose Luis Zapatero was placed under criminal investigation on Tuesday.
Zapatero, who led the socialist PSOE government between 2004 and 2011, is being investigated over allegations of influence peddling, document forgery and related offences.
Judges are examining his alleged role in securing a €53 million bailout package for a small Spanish airline that, like many other companies, was left reeling by the Covid crisis in 2020.
While the former PM denies any wrongdoing, police raided his offices on Tuesday morning, and he has been officially summoned to court on June 2.
The allegations have shaken Spanish politics: Zapatero is the first former Spanish prime minister ever formally investigated in a corruption-related case.
READ MORE: Spain’s former prime minister Zapatero denies corruption charges in €53m airline bailout
A Spanish airline with Venezuelan ties
At the heart of the investigation is Plus Ultra, a little-known carrier that operated a fleet of six jets between Spain and Latin America, particularly Venezuela.
Before the pandemic, Plus Ultra was a relatively small player in Spain’s aviation market, and opposition parties repeatedly questioned whether it was financially viable at all.
Those doubts culminated in a political storm when the Spanish government approved a multi-million-euro rescue package for the airline through a state fund created to support strategic businesses hit by the pandemic.
At the time, opposition parties questioned why such a small airline qualified for taxpayer support – especially when larger and more established companies were facing financial difficulties of their own.
So attention quickly turned to the airline’s links with Venezuela.
Some of Plus Ultra’s shareholders were Venezuelan businessmen, and Spanish anti-corruption prosecutors now suspect the bailout may have served a broader purpose than simply saving an airline.
According to the investigation, some of the funds linked to Plus Ultra may have been connected to business operations involving Venezuela’s state oil company, PdVSA, as well as networks linked to Venezuelan gold exports and the CLAP food distribution programme, which has faced repeated allegations of corruption.
READ MORE: Former Spanish prime minister Zapatero investigated for corruption over €53m airline bailout
Zapatero and the influence-peddling allegations
Plus Ultra now faces scrutiny over alleged money laundering and financial irregularities. But the case has drawn even greater attention because of Zapatero’s longstanding relationship with Venezuela.
After leaving office, the former socialist leader became deeply involved in Venezuelan politics, acting as a mediator between the government of Nicolas Maduro and the opposition.
Over the years, he built close ties with senior figures in Caracas and frequently defended dialogue with Maduro’s government while many European and Latin American leaders adopted a tougher stance against the regime.
Investigators are now examining whether those political relationships extended into business dealings.
Judge Jose Luis Calama, of Spain’s National Court, alleged that Zapatero led ‘an organised structure of illicit influence-peddling’ that used his access to senior political figures and government officials to secure favourable decisions for private interests.
According to court documents, prosecutors believe Zapatero and people close to him received nearly €1.9 million through allegedly irregular transactions linked to the scheme.
The investigation claims shell companies were used to conceal the movement of money.
One consulting company under scrutiny, Analisis Relevante, allegedly transferred almost half a million euros directly to Zapatero, as well as additional funds to What The Fav, a company owned by his daughters.
The firm was established in February 2020 by two Spanish businessmen, one of whom reportedly worked for nearly a decade as an intelligence consultant.
According to sources cited by El Pais, Analisis Relevante was designed in such a way that ‘Zapatero would be seen as an active, attractive asset by possible clients,’ although he reportedly never held shares in the company.
The investigating judge says Analisis Relevante shows a ‘pattern’ of receiving and redistributing money at the same time public subsidies were being granted to struggling companies by the central government.
He added that ‘solid evidence points to its role as a tool in a criminal structure.’
The allegations
For prosecutors, the central issue is whether the Plus Ultra bailout was genuinely designed to save a struggling airline during the pandemic – or whether it became part of a murky network involving political influence and Venezuelan-linked capital.
For Zapatero’s allies, however, the investigation is politically motivated. Current Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez and senior PSOE figures have publicly backed the former leader, insisting they trust in his innocence.
Zapatero himself has denied all accusations, stressing he always acted in full compliance with the law.
For now, the case has cast dark clouds over the PSOE. Time will tell whether they break into a full political storm.
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