Overview
- Bolivia's Senate approved a six-member commission on Wednesday to investigate a UDEF police report alleging former Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero received €200,000 to press Bolivian authorities on behalf of Grupo Gloria.
- Grupo Gloria confirmed that its Bolivian unit SOBOCE paid €200,000 for public‑affairs advisory services contracted in 2024 and told Peru's regulator the work was lawful and not aimed at influencing judicial processes.
- Spain's UDEF report cites WhatsApp messages and presidential agendas as documentary evidence and names several Bolivian officials, including former president Luis Arce, all of whom have denied improper conduct.
- The dispute grows out of a long-running SOBOCE–FANCESA fight that began with a 2010 expropriation of shares and has produced large contested judgments, arbitration claims and ongoing compensation demands.
- Peruvian market supervisors have sought clarifications from Gloria and the new Bolivian commission could channel testimony or documents that shape parallel police, regulatory and possible judicial action in multiple countries.