The former president of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has been accused by the National Court in ‘Plus Ultra case’. Judge José Luis Calama, head of the Court of Investigation number 4 of the Court, has agreed to investigate the socialist for alleged criminal organization, influence peddling and document falsification. Calama, which investigates the alleged irregular use of 53 million euros that the Government of Pedro Sánchez granted to the airline Plus Ultra in the form of a rescue after the pandemic, has agreed to summon Zapatero as investigated on June 2. He has been charged, as confirmed by sources from the National Court, for alleged crimes of influence peddling and other related crimes, including criminal organization and documentary falsification. And Zapatero received just over 400,000 euros over five years for consultancies related to the case and he has acknowledged on several occasions that he invoiced and declared as «it cannot be any other way.» These same sources have confirmed that this Tuesday the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) The National Police is searching the office of the former president of the Government and three other businesses: What The Favmanaged by the daughters of the former president of the Government; Prospective Intelligence and Soft manager. According to the first information, there would be verified payments that have raised suspicions of more than 600,000 euros to the daughters of the former president, which would have been made for consulting and advisory work. It is being investigated whether they were carried out or whether they were illegal commissions. It is worth remembering the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office He has been investigating the whereabouts of the ransom money since 2024specifically since two requests for information arrived from Switzerland and France regarding money laundering in that territory. At the end of 2025 the case was prosecuted, and the UDEF searched the Plus Ultra headquarters and arrested the company’s president, Julio Martínezand also to its CEO, Roberto Roselli. On March 3, Calama accepted the jurisdiction to investigate the case in which the rescue of the airline is being investigated, after the Madrid Court that until then was investigating the events recused itself in favor of the central court. This is the first time in democracy that a former president of the Government is investigated in a corruption case.
