Judge José Luis Calama of Spain’s National Court, who is overseeing the Plus Ultra case, has agreed to summon Alba and Laura Rodríguez Espinosa, daughters of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, as investigated parties. The decision also affects Gertrudis Alcázar, Zapatero’s secretary, who will likewise be called to testify under the same procedural status.
The move follows a request by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office for the three women to be questioned as suspects. According to Vozpópuli, the judge is expected to set the dates for their appearances in a forthcoming ruling.
In the case of Alba and Laura Rodríguez Espinosa, the court’s decision is linked to their role as formal administrators of Whathefav SL, a communications and marketing agency that has come under scrutiny within the investigation. The judge considers that their position within the company makes it necessary for them to appear with the procedural guarantees granted to investigated persons.
The magistrate contends that the company is linked to transactions pertinent to the case, and that its administrators should therefore give testimony under a legal framework that safeguards their constitutional rights; he believes that calling them solely as witnesses would be unsuitable, since it would compel them to speak truthfully and might jeopardize their protection against self-incrimination.
The investigation is reviewing multiple financial transactions connected to Whathefav and several companies tied to the Plus Ultra case, noting in the records that Inteligencia Prospectiva is believed to have sent 368,258.72 euros to Análisis Relevante, a firm linked to Julio Martínez, a friend of Zapatero, along with another 561,440 euros to the company run by the former prime minister’s daughters.
Investigators also point to payments allegedly made by Análisis Relevante, a company said to have been financed by Plus Ultra. These include 490,780 euros to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and 239,755 euros to Whathefav. Particular attention has been placed on invoices issued under the general concept of agency services, without a detailed description of the specific work carried out.
According to the judicial line of inquiry referenced by the outlet, the payments might have been tied to layout and formatting tasks for reports that had already been completed, and the judge noted that the unclear description of the services rendered could indicate a gap between the stated activity and the transactions’ actual purpose, potentially hinting at a merely formal cover function.
Zapatero’s appearance before the National Court on Wednesday failed to ease the investigating judge’s concerns, as the former prime minister firmly rejected any role in the supposed commission scheme tied to the rescue of Plus Ultra, the airline granted 53 million euros in public funds during the pandemic, and he further maintained that Whathefav operates legitimately as an active company serving multiple clients.
Regarding Gertrudis Alcázar, the judge also sees sufficient grounds to summon her as an investigated party. In earlier rulings, the magistrate had already described her as a relevant operational figure within the alleged network, carrying out activity from Zapatero’s office in Ferraz and having regular access to the former prime minister’s email account.
An examination of the seized emails assigns to Alcázar, alongside Cristóbal Cano, responsibilities involving coordination and the drafting of materials connected to the so-called Finance Boutique, and the investigating judge indicates that this documentation might have been employed to give a formal veneer to payments received and issued by the corporate structure under investigation.
Source: Courtesy of Vozpópuli — https://www.vozpopuli.com/tribunales/la-audiencia-nacional-acuerda-investigar-a-las-hijas-de-zapatero-y-a-su-secretaria.html
