Socialist former Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who ruled Spain from 2004 to 2011, has been charged with improperly influencing an investigation into the 2021 bailout of a small airline, a first for a former prime minister in Spain.

Thapatero was summoned to testify on 2 June before the judge in charge of that investigation, Jose Luis Calama, the Spanish court Audiencia Nacional, which takes on the most sensitive cases, clarified today.

Researches were carried out at the offices of the former prime minister and three companies, the court said.

According to Spanish media, these are businesses owned by his daughters.

According to Spanish media, they are businesses owned by his daughters.

The case centres on the rescue, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, of the airline Plus Ultra thanks to a €53 million loan with public money in March 2021.

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The company is based in Madrid, but the firm includes among its main shareholders Venezuelan businessmen who are listed by the right-wing opposition as being affiliated with the regime of ousted President Nicolás Maduro.

Plus Ultra, a wing class in the Spanish skies, was not serving Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela in 2021, despite having four Airbus A-340s.

The airline had nevertheless received this emergency loan from the government of socialist Pedro Sanchez, the granting of which was made possible by a special ten billion euro fund earmarked to bail out “strategic” companies facing difficulties because of the pandemic.

According to El Pais newspaper, which cited sources close to the investigation, investigators are interested in a consultancy firm owned by a close associate of Thapatero. This company allegedly served as an intermediary for the payment of hidden commissions.

The rescue of Plus Ultra had infuriated the right-wing opposition: highlighting that the company was linked to Venezuela, it had also pointed out that the then Spanish transport minister, José Luis Abalos, had met in January 2020 in Madrid with the second-in-command of the Venezuelan government, Delsi Rodriguez, then banned from entering the European Union, who has since succeeded Nicolás Maduro.

Like others close to current socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Jose Luis Abalos is himself at the centre of other judicial investigations. He recently had to appear before a Madrid court on corruption charges, in a trial in which he is awaiting a verdict.

Today, news of the new charges against the former socialist prime minister sparked fresh reactions from the opposition conservative Popular Party (PP), which took advantage to once again directly target the current head of government.

“Thapatero is the muse of ‘sadism’ and this muse is being persecuted by the Audiencia Nacional,” the PP stressed in statements sent to the press. “The principle that links the last two presidents of the government of Spain, who come from the Socialist Party (PSOE), is corruption. Both have widowed their families to enrich themselves and both have degraded the institution they represent or have represented.”