The magistrate of the Audiencia Nacional José Luis Calama has requested the Unidad de Delincuencia Económica y Fiscal (UDEF) of the Policía Nacional to find out who is behind the hallmark that appears engraved on the highest-value jewels seized from the former President of the Government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
In a ruling to which Europa Press has had access, the investigating judge in the "Plus Ultra case" details that the Police "must request" the support of Interpol and Europol if it considers it appropriate, for the purpose of determining who made the hallmarking of said pieces.
Calama takes this decision after receiving the second expert report on the jewels seized from the former socialist leader, prepared by the Yanes jewelry, which valued the pieces at 1.02 million euros and considered as a "very likely" hypothesis that they come from Asia.
In particular, the Yanes report highlighted that "the identifying valuation" of the jewels "provides an important element, which is a very specific hallmark present on all the pieces".
"Although in it the metal law is reflected as 18K, it also provides a letter T (of special design) included in a rectangle with rounded ends, an image that, with an exhaustive investigation at an international level, could lead to the original manufacturer," the jewelry store indicated in its report.
The judge keeps Zapatero charged as the alleged ringleader of a scheme of influence peddling that would have obtained economic advantages in exchange for his alleged mediation in the bailout of 53 million euros granted by the Government to the airline Plus Ultra during the pandemic.
In addition, the investigating judge is investigating him for possible tax and smuggling offenses as a result of the seizure of the jewels found in his office, whose preliminary value was set at 1.3 million euros.
Zapatero maintains that these jewels come from a gift from the king of Saudi Arabia after an official visit to Spain in June 2007. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, on the other hand, considers that the former president could have committed an alleged offense of embezzlement by keeping that gift instead of handing it over to Patrimonio del Estado.