The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office has requested that the expert report and the appraisal of the jewelry located in the office of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero be expanded, whose initial value was estimated at 1.3 million euros, in order to determine its current market price and specify the date on which they were set.
According to what 'El Mundo' has published and has been confirmed by fiscal sources to Europa Press, Anti-Corruption has sent a letter to the magistrate of the National Court who is instructing the 'Plus Ultra case', José Luis Calama, to ask the jewelry store Ansorena, responsible for the first report, to complete and detail the study of the seized pieces.
In addition to updating the market value, the Prosecutor's Office intends to specify when the jewelry was mounted, which the National Police seized in the office of the former head of the Executive on May 19, after he was charged for his alleged involvement in the rescue of 53 million euros that the Government granted to the airline Plus Ultra during the pandemic.
After the preliminary appraisal was known, the judge attributed to Zapatero possible tax and smuggling offenses. So far, the former president has not offered explanations about the specific origin of the jewelry.
This Thursday, in his first interview since the investigation was opened, Zapatero rejected having "a patrimonial desire" or "the intention to defraud" in relation to the seized jewelry, and stated that they were "a personal courtesy gift from many years ago," without specifying the identity of the person who gave them to him.