José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has appealed before the Criminal Chamber of the Audiencia Nacional the decision of judge José Luis Calama not to send a rogatory commission to Saudi Arabia to clarify the origin of some jewels found in a safe deposit box.
The former president maintains that it is a gift from the Saudi king in 2007, while the magistrate and the Prosecutor's Office focus on the fact that these three sets of jewels do not appear in the declaration of gifts he submitted upon leaving La Moncloa Palace.
The defense argues that the omission reinforces, not breaks, his account
In the document, to which elDiario.es has had access, lawyer Víctor Moreno Catena refutes that interpretation and maintains that this fact does not contradict what his client stated. "This fact, precisely, emphasizes the strictly personal nature of the gift, and in no way contradicts or discredits what my client stated, nor can it question his explanation of what happened," affirms the lawyer.
The defense insists that, by itself, the absence of the jewels in the declaration does not allow questioning what happened.
The appeal denounces a procedural clash by attributing the crime without due diligence
Moreno Catena also reproaches that Zapatero is attributed a tax crime for "the mere possession of some jewels," without further verification procedures with tax or customs authorities. In his opinion, this method "inverts the logic of criminal procedure" because it does not preserve the presumption of innocence.
For now, the appeal transfers the conflict to the Criminal Chamber, which must decide whether to correct Judge Calama and order new proceedings or whether to keep the path closed to request information from Saudi Arabia about the origin of the jewels.
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