Soledad Fernández is preparing to depart Spain’s Tax Agency amid escalating tensions regarding leadership changes at the institution and the ongoing controversy linked to the Zapatero case.
Spain’s Tax Agency is facing a major reshuffle in its leadership following the end of the income tax campaign. The agency’s director general, Soledad Fernández Doctor, will soon step down after four years at the helm of the body responsible for combating tax fraud.
The move also influences other top officials across the agency, as internal strain and differing versions persist regarding the real magnitude of the crisis. The Finance Ministry maintains that Fernández’s exit did not stem from an abrupt resignation but from a replacement request submitted months earlier and delayed until the close of the income tax campaign to prevent disrupting the agency during one of its peak periods.
However, this change comes at a highly delicate moment for the Tax Agency, as the judge overseeing the Plus Ultra case has recently offered the Finance Ministry the opportunity to join the proceedings as a potentially wronged party in relation to €1.3 million worth of jewellery that the National Police recovered from the office of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The AEAT’s decision on whether to take part or remain on the sidelines has become one of the central political flashpoints surrounding the matter.
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.
Source: ABC and The Objective.