The order of Judge Calama attributes commissions for Zapatero collected by a company that officially does not exist in Dubai

The judge José Luis Calama has taken a historic step: to indict for the first time a former president of the Spanish Government in democracy for criminal organization, influence peddling and participant (at least) in a money laundering operation. In his order, he assures that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero “gave instructions” to create an offshore company in Dubai (Landside Dubai FZCO or Landside Middle East FZCO) and thus channel 530,000 euros from the public rescue of Plus Ultra. Without proof. There is a small detail: that company does not exist. Not a trace in the official records of the emirate. A corporate ghost that makes the magistrate's entire circumstantial construction totter. 

Specifically, judge Calama's 85-page order is resounding. According to him, Zapatero, along with his secretary María Gertrudis Alcázar Jiménez and his friend Julio Martínez Martínez (alleged front man and administrator of Idella Consulenza Strategica SL and 28 other companies), “following instructions” from the former president, set up at least one offshore company in Dubai to receive, outside the Spanish radar, the 1% commission from the 53 million rescue granted by the Government of Pedro Sánchez to the airline Plus Ultra in 2021.

The name that appears in the judicial document is clear: Landside Dubai FZCO (or alternatively Landside Middle East FZCO), 100% owned (allegedly) by the Spanish company Idella. The attached business plan foresaw revenues of 3 million dollars in five years. If it existed, very good prospects. Temporal proximity with Idella's contract with Plus Ultra (January 19, 2021), a meeting in Dubai organized (allegedly) by Zapatero on January 26 and the whole setup ready to “avoid its traceability in Spanish territory”. Pure money laundering crime novel. Of gangsters. Or so it seems.

Because the reality, according to an exhaustive verification of Dubai's official commercial registries, is different: those companies do not exist. Neither Landside Dubai FZCO nor Landside Middle East FZCO appear in the emirate's official databases. Neither in Dubai Economy, nor in the airport free zone (DAFZ), nor in any other accessible registry. This is confirmed by OpenCorporates, the world's largest corporate database, which feeds directly from the official registries of more than 140 jurisdictions, including Dubai. Clean search: zero results.

Black on white: there is no record of the existence of either of the two companies mentioned in the writ. And it is not the only hole. Sources specialized in company formation in Dubai point out that an FZCO (Free Zone Company) in the free zone requires at least two shareholders; it cannot be 100% owned by a single Spanish company like Idella. Like an SL in Spain. For that, the FZE (Free Zone Establishment) figure exists, with a single shareholder.

Furthermore, Idella Consulenza Strategica SL appears inactive in Spain according to commercial registries. A house of cards that falls by itself. Zapatero, for his part, flatly denies any relationship with these alleged operations. He has described the accusations as “false and malicious” and has shown himself willing to testify on June 2 as an investigated party.

His defenders already speak of “forced circumstantial construction” and interested leaks to politically criminalize the former president with the aim of bringing down the Government or deactivating him, given his political activity for the left. Meanwhile, Calama's writ moves forward. Historical indictment, yes.

But built on a phantom company that, according to official Dubai registries, never came into existence. In a country where the presumption of innocence should be sacred, this type of “evidence” that evaporates at the first cross-referencing of data generates more questions than answers. I can slip in among the framework of the international crime network directed by Zapatero the payments received by Thinking Heads or its subsidiary, Gate Center, of which he is honorary president, companies dedicated to promoting conferences and participations in Congresses of presidents and former presidents from all over the world (Felipe González or Aznar included) as well as experts like Marina, whom I myself hired.

But mentioning an nonexistent company as a key piece of an indictment writ against President Zapatero clarifies much about two public phrases uttered by the political right:

• “He who can do, let him do” (José María Aznar, former President of the Government)
• “We control the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court through the back door” (Ignacio Cosidó, former Senator in the General Courts of Spain)

Is anyone going to ask the instructor for explanations about where the name of those non-existent companies came from? Because indicting a former president is no small feat… and even less so with evidence that vanishes before even reaching the court.