Calama frees Zapatero from charges of embezzlement

Judge José Luis Calama has refused to extend the investigation into former President of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for a crime of embezzlement of public funds for the jewels he hid in his office. He maintains that the trousseau does not constitute "a public patrimony" no matter how much he had received it for attention to his position. He emphasizes that such conduct "may give rise to reproaches of an ethical or political nature" but that he does not share the thesis of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office that said gift fits into the criminal category of embezzlement.

The judge adds that the Public Ministry assumes "prior public ownership of the assets", in reference to the jewels valued at one million and that Zapatero maintains that they were given to him in 2007 by the King of Saudi Arabia. On the contrary, he argues that "the Administration did not hold any prior legal title over the jewels comparable to contributions collected by Social Security, remainders donated to a City Council or funds that already belonged to local purposes", to cite some examples.