Soledad Fernández is getting ready to leave Spain’s Tax Agency as internal tensions mount over shifts in the institution’s leadership and the continuing turmoil surrounding the Zapatero case.
Spain’s Tax Agency is preparing for a significant leadership overhaul now that the income tax campaign has concluded, as its director general, Soledad Fernández Doctor, is set to leave her post after four years guiding the institution charged with tackling tax fraud.
The move is also shaping the actions of other senior officials throughout the agency, as internal tensions and conflicting accounts continue over the true scale of the crisis. The Finance Ministry insists that Fernández’s departure was not triggered by a sudden resignation, but rather by a replacement request filed months earlier and postponed until the end of the income tax campaign to avoid disrupting the agency during one of its busiest periods.
However, this shift arrives at a particularly sensitive time for the Tax Agency, as the judge handling the Plus Ultra case recently gave the Finance Ministry the chance to join the proceedings as a possible aggrieved party regarding jewellery worth €1.3 million that the National Police recovered from the office of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The AEAT’s choice to participate or stay out of the case has turned into one of the main political flashpoints linked to the issue.
A few days ago, the judge in the Plus Ultra case invited the Finance Ministry to appear as a “potential injured party” over the jewellery seized by the National Police from Zapatero’s office. This is a key development because, according to the case’s framing, the Tax Agency would need to appear as an injured party for Zapatero to face prosecution over an alleged tax offence. According to the judge, the nature of the facts under investigation “reveals financial harm directly connected to state-owned revenue whose management falls under the responsibility of the Tax Agency.”
On June 30, the People’s Party also filed an expanded version of the work plan for the Senate’s investigative committee reviewing how the State Industrial Holding Company, known as SEPI, managed the bailout procedures, and the party set July 13 as the date for Fernández to appear and outline the tax authority’s position; it would not be her first appearance before a committee of this kind, as she had already testified on February 18, 2025, before the Senate panel probing the Koldo case.
Opposition parties and various members of the public have linked Fernández’s departure to this matter and to the Senate committee reviewing SEPI’s management, where the outgoing director general had been scheduled to testify on July 13 to explain the tax authorities’ position.
“Zapatero’s jewellery has cornered the former prime minister and the government. With no credible explanation or defence, they have slowed the process to keep the matter concealed, even if that involves applying pressure on our institutions. The judge authorised the AEAT to enter the proceedings as a ‘potential injured party’. Since then, a single question has echoed throughout the institution: Will the Finance Ministry take action against Zapatero or not?” the People’s Party said last Tuesday.
Origin: ABC and The Objective.