The judge has ordered the tracing of the bank accounts of the former Minister of Finance Cristóbal Montoro within the framework of an investigation that affects 28 natural persons and six legal entities and that focuses on an alleged network of payments linked to legal modifications.
The order, dated March 30, 2026, also includes his closest circle, such as his wife, Beatriz Blázquez, and his brother, Ricardo Montoro, as well as former high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Finance such as Pilar Platero, former Undersecretary of Budgets, and Felipe Martínez Rico, former Undersecretary of Finance.
The proceedings also extend to the consultancy firm Equipo Económico, founded by Montoro, and several of its partners, including Ricardo Martínez Rico, Manuel de Vicente Tutor Rodríguez and Francisco Piedras. The firm has appealed the judicial order that mandates these actions.
As stated in the summary, the investigation focuses on an alleged business of law rigging and other irregularities that would have developed during the governments of Mariano Rajoy between 2011 and 2018, a period in which Montoro was minister, and which, according to investigators, continued until the end of the legislature.
According to these investigations, the alleged operation consisted of introducing regulatory modifications requested by companies that would have paid Equipo Económico. These modifications would have been reflected, among other texts, in the General State Budgets approved in June 2018.
A report from the Tax Agency incorporated into the case identifies “monetary flows” linked to changes in the Special Electricity Tax (IEE) and the Tax on Economic Activities (IAE). According to the experts, these economic movements “would not exist were it not for the alleged agreement investigated between the firm and the gas companies.” These tax modifications would have allowed certain companies to obtain tax reductions which, according to the investigation, could reach up to 85%.
