Spain’s former PM faces tax fraud inquiry as police find €1.3m of jewellery

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, already under investigation for alleged influence-peddling, facing questions over items found in office safe The former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is being investigated for possible tax fraud and smuggling after police discovered jewellery valued at more than €1.3m (£1.1m) while searching his office safe as part of a separate inquiry. Zapatero, who led two socialist governments between 2004 and 2011, is already under investigation for alleged influence-peddling and other offences relating to the state bailout of the Spanish Plus Ultra airline during the Covid pandemic. He is alleged to have overseen “a hierarchical structure of influence-peddling”, whose purpose was “to obtain economic benefits through intermediation and the exercise of influence before public bodies in favour of third parties, mainly Plus Ultra”. On Friday, the investigating judge at Spain’s highest criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, said a new investigation had been launched after an expert assessment put the value of the jewellery, which includes necklaces, bracelets, rings and watches, at €1,323,915. In a ruling explaining his decisi