Soledad Fernández is set to leave Spain’s Tax Agency at a time of heightened tension over changes at the top of the institution and the controversy 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 also affects other senior officials within the agency, amid internal tension and conflicting accounts over the true scale of the crisis. The Finance Ministry insists that Fernández’s departure is not the result of a sudden resignation, but rather a replacement request made months ago and postponed until the end of the income tax campaign to avoid disrupting the agency during one of its busiest periods.
However, the change comes at an especially delicate moment for the Tax Agency. In recent days, the judge overseeing the Plus Ultra case offered the Finance Ministry the opportunity to appear in the proceedings as a potential injured party over jewellery seized by the National Police from the office of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, valued at €1.3 million. The AEAT’s decision on whether or not to join the case has become one of the main 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.
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 members of the public have connected Fernández’s exit with this issue and with the Senate committee investigating SEPI’s management, where the departing director general had been called to testify on July 13 to outline the tax authorities’ stance.
“Zapatero’s jewellery has pushed the former prime minister and the government into a corner. Lacking explanations and any plausible defence, they are simply stalling to hide the entire affair, even if it means exerting pressure on our institutions. The judge allowed the AEAT to join the case as a ‘potential injured party’. Since then, a single question has been resonating throughout the institution: Will the Finance Ministry act against Zapatero, yes or no?” the People’s Party stated last Tuesday.
Source: ABC and The Objective.
