Former Spanish PM under criminal investigation as 53m bailout of airline examined

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been placed under criminal investigation for alleged influence-peddling and related offences connected to the state rescue of Plus Ultra. A judge ordered him to appear as a suspect before Spain’s highest criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, on 2 June. The investigation stems from a 53m state bailout approved in March 2021 during the Covid pandemic. Prosecutors are examining whether the airline made inadequate use of public funds. Anti-corruption police are investigating whether bailout money was used to launder funds from Venezuela through France, Switzerland, and Spain. Police searched Zapatero’s office and those of three other companies after judicial authorisation. Zapatero denies wrongdoing and previously said he never took commissions from Plus Ultra while acknowledging consultancy work for a businessman linked to the airline.

"Zapatero, a socialist who served as prime minister from 2004 to 2011, has been ordered to appear before Spain's highest criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, on 2 June. Although other former and serving Spanish prime ministers have been called to testify in corruption cases, this is the first time a former prime minister has been placed under criminal investigation. The latest investigation is part of an investigation into the 53m (46m) state rescue of the Spanish airline Plus Ultra in March 2021."

"Prosecutors are examining whether the company made inadequate use of the public funds the government approved for the bailout, while anti-corruption police are investigating whether the airline used the rescue money to launder funds from Venezuela through France, Switzerland and Spain. In a statement released on Tuesday, the court said a judge had authorised police to search Zapatero's office as well as those of three other companies."

"Audiencia Nacional judge Jose Luis Calama has ordered former prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to appear as a suspect on 2 June on charges of influence-peddling and related offences, the statement said. It said Calama had lifted secrecy restrictions relating to the proceedings and had accepted jurisdiction after a lower court recused itself in favour of the Audiencia Nacional. Spanish police searched Zapatero's office on Tuesday after being given approval by a judge."

"Zapatero, who denies any wrongdoing, appeared before a senate committee in March, where he said he had never taken any commissions from Plus Ultra. But he did acknowledge doing some consultancy work for his friend Julio Martinez Martinez, a businessman who worked with Plus Ultra and who was arres"

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