The Spanish newspaper ABC reported on details of a payment from a businessman in the circle closest to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro that a shell company belonging to Alba and Laura Rodríguez Espinosa, daughters of former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, allegedly concealed from the tax agency, the Agencia Tributaria.
According to ABC, the two daughters must testify as investigated parties between now and 30 November, and will have to choose between cooperating with the courts, as the paper says other people implicated in the case have done, or continuing to deny the allegations as their father does.
The article says the investigation goes beyond the symbolism of jewels found in a safe in Zapatero's office, and describes the matter as part of a chain of mutual favours — transfers in exchange for what the paper calls "diplomacy" — linking the former prime minister to the Caracas government. ABC states that Zapatero's ties to the Chavista regime, and the alleged commissions examined by the Audiencia Nacional, lead to a lucrative business for which his daughters will have to answer.
