The Treasury asks Zapatero for explanations about his jewelry and he refuses until the case is concluded

The Treasury has asked the former President of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to clarify whether the jewels valued at more than one million euros that the Police found in his office were his and, in that case, to explain when and for how much he acquired them, information that the former president has refused to provide to the Tax Agency "until the completion" of the judicial process in the Plus Ultra case.

This is stated in the proceedings of the Tax Agency Inspection sent to Judge José Luis Calama, who is investigating the Plus Ultra case. The magistrate agreed this Friday to paralyze the tax inspections of Zapatero, his wife, his daughters and the businessman Julio Martínez, since the former president and his family maintain that these investigations interfere with their defense before the criminal procedure.

Before this stoppage, according to the proceedings, the inspectors were examining the payment by the former president of the Wealth Tax and the Solidarity of the Great Fortunes. To carry out this review, an inventory of all his assets, "jewelry" included, was requested.

Regarding the jewelry that the UDEF found on May 19 in the office on Ferraz Street, the tax authority asked the former socialist leader to clarify whether the pieces valued at more than one million euros that appeared in his safe were "his ownership" between 2021 and 2024. In that case, he had to prove the date and value of acquisition, key data to calculate what he should have been taxed on them.

As the former president alleged before the instructor, the jewels were a gift from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, now deceased, in 2007. In this regard, the judge has refused to accuse him of embezzlement for them because there was no law at that time that required them to be handed over to State Heritage.

Five months of struggle

However, the detail about the jewelry is one of the questions that the former Chief Executive and his family have left unanswered since, on June 15, they received notification of the start of the inspections. The representative of these investigated warned that "all the documentation that may have implications in said criminal process will not be the subject of contribution in this tax procedure until the completion of the judicial case."

In July, the former president and his family asked the Treasury to suspend inspections due to the criminal case of the Plus Ultra case. The Inspection extended the deadline until September 15, since on July 30 Calama refused to stop the checks, in line with the Prosecutor's Office.

In September, the Zapatero family refused to authorize access to their bank accounts due to their right of defense. In October, the former president refused to make the "request" again and the Tax Agency warned him that his refusal could constitute an infraction of "resistance, obstruction, excuse or refusal" punishable.

His daughters justified their request for suspension by a criminal procedure "continued against the father and against the interested party herself," according to the writing of one of them. The Treasury had asked them for the distribution agreement of the dividends they received in 2023 and 2024.

Operations for 232,000 euros

The former socialist official has not explained his VAT declarations either. Specifically, it was asked to clarify 232,390.43 euros in operations with "reversal of the taxable person" in 2024 and 35,629.50 euros in 2023. In this type of operations, the obligation to declare VAT falls on the recipient in the cases provided for by tax regulations.

From Whathefav, his daughters' company, the Inspection required documentation of the loans granted to its administrators and "the amounts transferred and recovered." He also asked them to justify the payments he made to them as income from professional activities.