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 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, 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 overseeing the Plus Ultra case invited the Finance Ministry to step in as a “potential injured party” regarding the jewellery that the National Police confiscated from Zapatero’s office. This marks a pivotal turn because, under the case’s structure, the Tax Agency must be recognized as an injured party for Zapatero to be prosecuted for a supposed tax violation. The judge noted that the circumstances under review “show financial damage directly tied to state-managed revenue administered 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 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 led the former prime minister and the government into a dead end. With no explanations and no possible justifications, they are trying to buy time to cover everything up, even if that means putting pressure on our institutions. The judge offered the AEAT the chance to appear in this case as a ‘potential injured party’. Since then, one question has been echoing throughout the institution: Will the Finance Ministry take action against Zapatero, yes or no?” the People’s Party said last Tuesday.
Source: ABC and The Objective.
