Spain’s National Police found jewellery and watches in the safe in former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s office during a search ordered by the National Court as part of the Plus Ultra case. Officers from the UDEF financial crimes unit went to the office, located opposite PSOE headquarters on Ferraz Street, accompanied by the Technical Intervention Operations Group (GOIT), specialised in opening safes and hidden access points.
During the inspection of the office, hard drives, folders and various documents were also seized. Inside the safe they found necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets and several watches, some of them bearing inscriptions. The former prime minister’s secretary told officers that the jewellery came from an inheritance received by Zapatero’s wife.
As well as the jewellery, police seized two hard drives removed from a computer and numerous folders containing documents relating to companies, contracts and invoices. They also found several of the former prime minister’s diaries covering the period from 2019 to 2025.
Police say that two employees at the office voluntarily provided the passwords for electronic devices. The search also led to the seizure of folders linked to companies under investigation over alleged financial transfers connected to Zapatero.
Until he appears before National Court judge José Luis Calama on 2 June, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is focusing on preparing his defence and wants the investigating magistrate to be the first to hear his explanations.
National Court judge José Luis Calama ordered four searches on 19 May and instructed UDEF officers to seize the storage devices of Gertrudis Alcázar, the personal secretary of the former Socialist prime minister, who is under investigation over an alleged influence-peddling scheme and other related offences.
Zapatero: “This whole affair is a kind of persecution”
Former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero maintains that the jewellery found by police in the safe in his office consists of items inherited from his mother and his mother-in-law, and that there were also unspecified gifts.
Zapatero says the jewellery was kept at his office because, after moving into rented accommodation following the sale of their home, the couple decided to place it in the safe at the Ferraz Street office, as they did not have one at their residence.
According to Zapatero’s personal secretary, Gertrudis Alcázar, the safe belonged to the former prime minister and his wife, Sonsoles Espinosa, and some of the jewellery came from inheritances and gifts received on trips. Among the items found were watches, earrings and bracelets with inscriptions.
The search of the home of Julio Martínez Martínez
National Police officers found a total of €286,070 in cash at the home of businessman Julio Martínez Martínez, a friend of former prime minister Rodríguez Zapatero who has been identified in the judicial investigation as a supposed front man. The money was distributed in bags, boxes and drawers and was even hidden in a toiletry bag and a radiator. In addition, nine watches and fourteen mobile phones were seized.
The search took place on 11 December 2025, after his arrest at his home in Madrid’s Salamanca district, according to the order in the Plus Ultra case file. Officers from the Central Unit for Economic and Fiscal Crime (UDEF) stress that the deployment of sniffer dog units was key to locating the hidden cash in different parts of the property.
The report details, for example, that €4,550 was found in a travel bag, €49,900 in a paper bag in the bathroom and another €25,000 in a plastic bag, all in €50 notes. They also found €10,000 inside a golf bag, €30,000 inside a paper bag, €5,270 in a toiletry bag and €50,000 inside a radiator.
Alleged influence-peddling network linked to the bailout of a Venezuelan airline
The judge is investigating Zapatero over his possible involvement in an alleged influence-peddling network linked to the bailout of the airline Plus Ultra during the pandemic and the granting of €53 million in aid. According to UDEF, Julio Martínez is alleged to have led a corporate structure from which the former prime minister and his entourage were the main beneficiaries.
Martínez Martínez received a total of €598,910.07 from the Venezuelan airline through three of his companies, which had no employees, according to local media. Martínez Martínez received €301,290.00 from Análisis Relevante, €141,772.71 from Voli Analítica and €155,847.36 from IOT Domotic.
The most striking detail in the UDEF report is that “all three companies had no salaried staff or contractors in the years in which they received the income”.
National Police have identified two other companies owned by Julio Martínez Martínez (Caleton and Summer Wind) that were used “as intermediary companies for the purpose of concealing the origin of part of the flow of funds from Plus Ultra” to the circle around Rodríguez Zapatero’s friend.
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