The judge of the 'Plus Ultra case' refuses to send a rogatory commission to Saudi Arabia regarding the jewels seized from Zapatero

Judge José Luis Calama has refused to send a rogatory commission to Saudi Arabia to prove the origin of the jewels that were seized from former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. This was decided by an order issued this Tuesday and with which he responded to the request made by the former President of the Government.

In said order, the instructor of the Plus Ultra case includes the explanations given by Zapatero about the jewelry found in the search of his office on May 19 and valued at 1.3 million euros. In a letter sent to the court at the end of September, the former socialist leader maintained that the three sets of jewelry composed of rubies, emeralds and sapphires were given to him by the then monarch of Saudi Arabia as a sign of personal attention during the official visit to Spain in June 2007, when he was President of the Government.

Zapatero framed the gift in the "strictly personal" area and asked the judge that "if the explanation offered is considered insufficient" to agree to "obtain from the competent authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through the channel of the international legal cooperation instrument that is appropriate, the corresponding official confirmation of the gift received during the aforementioned visit on June 18 and 19, 2007." "To this end," his defense added, "a copy" of the aforementioned letters may be attached to the request, "so that the requested authority can prove the facts."

In line with the Anti-Corruption report, the judge of the National Court specifies that this request is not sufficiently supported by facts or objective evidence. Furthermore, regarding the letters sent to the court, Calama points out that Zapatero has not provided proof of the presentation or sending of such writings.

"However, even disregarding this circumstance, the version offered at this time lacks any objective element of external corroboration and does not find sufficient basis in the elements found in the proceedings, in view of the considerations set out below," he warns.

The judge is aware of the official visit of the Saudi monarch in 2007, according to the order. And it also refers to the documentation that certifies the delivery of institutional gifts that were incorporated into public assets on the occasion of the same. It is precisely this documentation that, according to the judge, makes it difficult to accommodate "the differentiated treatment that, according to the version of the person under investigation, the jewelry now examined would have received."

In this sense, for Calama, the fact that under the Presidency of Rodríguez Zapatero the Code of Good Government was approved by Agreement of the Council of Ministers of February 18, 2005, which expressly established that institutional gifts of special significance should be incorporated into public assets, is particularly relevant. "This circumstance shows the full knowledge by the person investigated of the regime applicable to this type of property and, therefore, is not consistent with the explanation currently offered," highlights the instructor.