Soledad Fernández Doctor, until last week director of the Tax Agency, has confirmed before the Senate committee investigating the irregularities of the SEPI that all the assets of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero are being investigated. “It is our obligation,” she said.
PP senator Salvador Foronda reproached the Agency for seeking the statute of limitations on the alleged tax crimes of Zapatero by not initiating actions as soon as the reports from the Unif (National Financial Intelligence Unit) implicating him in alleged money laundering operations and pointing out the absence of tax declarations and alleged tax crimes of the former president became known.
Fernández defended herself by saying that there are cases that, due to their complexity or because not all data is available, do not generate an immediate response from the Agency. She also denied that her departure from the AEAT was related to this matter. She explained that it was a resignation, a decision of hers after having been in a difficult and very demanding position for four years and one month.
She also explained that when investigations are initiated by a judge, as is the case with Zapatero by Judge Calama, it is normal for the Agency to appear at the magistrate’s request. And she insisted that when procedures coincide, the judge usually requests the suspension of the AEAT procedure.
Fernández added that if the jewels found in the former president’s office correspond to a donation, the tax responsibility lies with the Community of Madrid. And even that it will be the judge who determines whether the possession of those jewels is a capital gain or not. The former director of the AEAT stated that it is “very complicated” to respond to hypotheses about the Zapatero jewels case because there is not enough data.
According to the PP, the payments received by Zapatero between 2020 and 2024, added to the appraised value of his jewels, would amount to a defrauded quota of more than 933,262 euros. On this aspect, the witness assured that this is being investigated. “It is our obligation,” she emphasized.
Regarding the former president’s daughters, the former director said that an investigation has “probably” been opened, although she insisted that due to her duty of confidentiality she cannot confirm it. “I am not going to tell you, I am not going to tell you,” she emphasized in response to Foronda’s insistence.
“I have no record”
Regarding the case of Julio Martínez, Zapatero’s friend and owner of Análisis Relevante, the former director acknowledged that not reacting immediately to this person’s failure to file income tax returns since 2020 was a “mistake” that she said she “deeply regrets.” Subsequently, she did confirm that this case is under investigation.
She also clung to “I have no record” in response to a good number of questions directed at her. The PP senator concluded his questioning by stating that “being a socialist means having a lot and declaring little.”
Vox senator Paloma Gómez focused on the Zapatero jewels case. She also insisted that the Agency “looked the other way until the judge pressured with his investigation.” The witness explained that although the judge’s offer for the Agency to appear in the procedure was published in the press, they had no notification of it to the point that a week later they went to the court to claim it in person.
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