Former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero defended his “decency and honesty” on Wednesday after making an unprecedented court appearance on suspected influence peddling, the latest corruption affair threatening the leftist government.
The investigation into the Socialist titan comes as a string of graft probes into Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s family and former top political allies have threatened to topple his minority coalition.
Clashes with US President Donald Trump and virulent criticism of Israel have made Sánchez a global progressive star but the scandals have eroded the domestic standing of one of Europe’s few remaining Socialist leaders.
Zapatero, who governed Spain from 2004-2011, was placed under formal investigation last month for alleged influence peddling in connection with the bailout of small airline Plus Ultra in 2021.
Plus Ultra received €53 million of public money after the COVID-19 pandemic paralysed global travel.
Investigating judge José Luis Calama has said Zapatero allegedly headed a “stable and hierarchical” structure that used “opaque financial channels” to conceal the movement of money and obtain bribes for his illicit manoeuvring.
“I am accused of very serious offences that I have not committed. I always conducted myself with decency and honesty,” Zapatero said in a statement released after he spent around three hours at Madrid’s Audiencia Nacional court.
“Now the task ahead of me is to prove it. I will do so with total transparency and full confidence,” Zapatero added, denying the illicit ownership of companies, money or financial products.
“The truth will prevail and I will restore confidence to those who now doubt.”
The hearing made Zapatero the first former or serving Spanish prime minister to declare as a suspect in a corruption probe.
‘Moral beacon’ under suspicion
A police search of Zapatero’s office found jewellery and luxury watches valued at €1.3 million, leading Calama to probe additional alleged offences of tax fraud and smuggling.
Zapatero’s entourage attributes the hoard to a family inheritance. The former premier did not speak about the jewels during Wednesday’s hearing, according to legal sources.
The court said in a statement that Zapatero had not justified the origin of the jewellery nor the tax and customs payments due on them.
His declaration “has failed to detract from the rational evidence of criminality” attributed to him by the judge, it added.
The judge, however, rejected the prosecution’s request to confiscate Zapatero’s passport and impose obligatory court appearances every 15 days as he was not deemed a flight risk or likely to destroy or hide evidence.
Sánchez vowed to clean up Spanish politics when he took power in 2018 after the main conservative Popular Party was convicted in its own graft affair.
But the investigation into Zapatero imperils the reputation of a “moral beacon” for Sánchez and the Socialists, Astrid Barrio, a political science professor at the University of Valencia, told the AFP news agency.
A two-year-long investigation into Sánchez’s wife Begona Gomez for alleged influence peddling had already shaken the government, with a decision to send her to trial potentially imminent.
Verdicts are also due in separate corruption trials of Sánchez’s former right-hand man José Luis Abalos and his brother David Sánchez.
Recent revelations about an ongoing police probe into a former Socialist activist suspected of leading a plot to sabotage investigations into Sánchez’s entourage have piled further pressure on the government.
Amid the relentless stream of negative headlines, the Socialists have suffered four regional election drubbings since late 2025, in a possible precursor to next year’s national vote.
The conservative and far-right opposition have demanded Sánchez’s resignation and early elections, but the prime minister insists he will see out his term until 2027.
Additional sources • AFP
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