Apart from defending his innocence and disassociating himself from the rescue of Plus Ultra, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has placed special emphasis on leaving his family and personal environment out of any irregular activity. After Judge José Luis Calama pointed out his daughters’ company, Whathefav, as an alleged vehicle to mask commissions due to his display of influence, the former president of the Government defended his daughters’ work for Analyzes Relevante, the company of his friend Julio Martínez, “Julito.” But this staunch defense did not prevent the judge of the National Court from ending up charging them.
Something similar happened with his secretary, Gertrudis Alcázar, a person of his utmost confidence, after his conversations and messages resulting from the interventions on his agenda were revealed, something that for the former leader of the PSOE violated his right to privacy. Although, as happened with her two daughters, Alba and Laura, in the case of “Gertru” it did not prevent Calama from taking the step of agreeing to charge her.
The one who for now remains formally outside the list of those investigated is Zapatero’s wife, Sonsoles Espinosa, despite the fact that the instructor has ordered the UDEF to analyze bank accounts that she shares with her husband. And the former president of the Government, as he did with his daughters and his secretary, also insists on leaving his wife outside the judicial investigation.
Allegations to stop the Treasury inspection
Thus, in the last letter sent by his lawyer to the National Court, in which he revolts against Calama’s decision to investigate his bank accounts, the lawyer Víctor Moreno Catena not only complains that endorsing the measure means authorizing “a complete financial photograph of six and a half years” of Zapatero’s life (from January 2020 to the present), but also regarding five other people and thirteen companies. And in this regard, he specifies that the measure also affects his two daughters, his secretary and “a third person unrelated to the procedure” (in reference to his wife Sonsoles Espinosa, given that the sixth person whose accounts are being investigated is businessman Julio Martínez, “Julito”, who is charged).
But paradoxically, although Espinosa is not charged, Judge Calama does consider her part of the procedure, at least in relation to the tax investigation, which for now the magistrate limits to the discovery of the jewels in the former president’s office. And the fact is that in the order dated July 30, in which it rules out suspending the tax inspection opened by the Treasury while the judicial investigation is being carried out, it states that for the procedural representation of Zapatero, Sonsoles Espinosa and his daughters (and their company) submitted letters on July 7 requesting, as requested by the Tax Agency, “the suspension of the verification and investigation actions” opened by the Treasury.
That is to say, without formally being a party to the case, he was able to make allegations in relation to the Treasury’s intention to suspend his inspection action to give priority to the judicial investigation of the National Court.
On the other hand, Calama continues with the investigation regarding the rescue of Plus Ultra in which he maintains Zapatero accused and has urged the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the Police to detail the shareholder footprint of the airline since its creation to assess the impact of the “Venezuelan capital that, supposedly, was invested in the company.”