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 gearing up for a major leadership shift following the close of the income tax campaign, as its director general, Soledad Fernández Doctor, is expected to step down after four years at the helm of the institution responsible for combating 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 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 handling the Plus Ultra case asked the Finance Ministry to participate as a potential injured party in relation to the jewellery seized by the National Police from Zapatero’s office, signalling a key shift since the Tax Agency must be acknowledged as an injured party for Zapatero to face charges for an alleged tax offense, and the judge indicated that the facts under examination reveal financial harm directly linked to state-managed funds overseen by the Tax Agency.
In addition, on June 30, the People’s Party registered an expansion of the work plan for the Senate investigation committee into the management of the State Industrial Holding Company, known as SEPI, over the bailout operations. The party specifically called Fernández to testify on July 13 to clarify the tax authority’s position. It would not be her first appearance before such a committee: on February 18, 2025, she testified before the Senate committee investigating 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.
