Zapatero says luxury items found by investigators were foreign gift

Former Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who is under investigation for graft, said Thursday that luxury jewellery and watches found during a search of his office were a gift from a foreign country.

Zapatero, who governed Spain from 2004 to 2011, was placed under formal investigation in May for alleged influence peddling linked to the 2021 bailout of the small airline Plus Ultra.

A police search of his office found jewellery and luxury watches valued at 1.3 million euros, or $1.5 million. The discovery led the investigating magistrate to examine additional alleged offences of tax fraud and smuggling.

In his first interview since being put under investigation, the former Socialist leader told Spanish public television that the jewellery and watches had been received “many years ago” as a “courtesy gift”. He said he would not name the country because the justice system should be told first, and added that he “probably should have” refused the gift.

The case centres on whether Zapatero used his political influence to help Plus Ultra obtain a 53-million-euro bailout in 2021, and whether he and his family benefited financially from it.

Zapatero, an ally of current Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, has consistently denied wrongdoing. In the interview, he repeated that he was innocent and said he had spoken to no one in the government or the state holding company SEPI, which oversaw the bailout.

He also rejected as “pure invention” allegations that he instructed associates to create an offshore company in Dubai. He defended his personal secretary, who has also been questioned by the investigating judge.

His comments came two days after businessman Julio Martinez, described as a close associate of the former premier, told the investigating judge that Zapatero had played an active role in securing the bailout, according to Spanish media reports.

Separate politically damaging cases have targeted Sanchez's wife Begona Gomez and his brother David. Sanchez's former right-hand man, Jose Luis Abalos, was sentenced in June to 24 years in prison for corruption.