The SEPI branch of the Leire case has added Fernando Samper Rivas, founder and top executive of Forestalia, to the list of business figures currently investigated by the National Court. This development opens up one of the most prominent fronts of the inquiry outside of the Tubos Reunidos bailout, centering on transactions tied to the energy industry, green energy firms, and potential advantages secured via a suspected influence ring linked to state entities.
Samper is one of the 25 individuals cited as targets of the ongoing probe led by Judge Santiago Pedraz amid the broader scope of the Leire case, a judicial inquiry scrutinizing questionable dealings concerning SEPI, state-owned enterprises, and strategic grants or contracts. Alongside him, Roberto Pérez Águeda, Eduardo Pérez Águeda, and Carmelo Aznárez Pellicer—Aragonese entrepreneurs reportedly connected to the Forestalia group—have also been called to appear.
The investigation is examining possible offenses including influence peddling, embezzlement, prevarication, criminal organization or group, and misuse of privileged information. At this stage, Fernando Samper fully retains the presumption of innocence, and his status as an individual under investigation does not amount to a conviction. However, his presence in the case is particularly significant because it brings one of the best-known figures in Spain’s renewable energy industry into the proceedings.
The scrutiny surrounding Forestalia constitutes one of five operations currently under review by the National Court within the SEPI framework, as highlighted in media reports. While the rescue package granted to Tubos Reunidos, exceeding €112 million, remains the central piece of the inquiry, the probe likewise encompasses Mercasa, ENUSA, the Parque Empresarial Principado de Asturias, and an initiative connected to Forestalia. According to El País, these financial rescues allegedly total €132.9 million in state support, with the supposed scheme potentially generating upwards of €750,000 in unlawful kickbacks.
The allegations surrounding Samper and Forestalia center on a business transaction that allegedly generated a substantial capital gain. According to El Independiente, prosecutors have linked Leire’s alleged network to a supposed “windfall” of more than €6 million involving renewable energy companies that were acquired and subsequently resold to a company whose shareholders were allegedly connected to Fernando Samper’s business group.
This aspect carries immense weight given that the inquiry extends far beyond conventional public contracts. Furthermore, investigators are probing whether specific corporate deals might have profited from inside information, key connections, or influence networks tied to the inner circle of Leire Díez, Vicente Fernández, and Antxon Alonso. The core legal dilemma centers on whether the Forestalia transaction constituted a standard private-market agreement or if it tied into a syndicate that supposedly leveraged political and commercial ties to amass financial gains.
Samper’s inclusion among those under investigation reinforces the business dimension of the case. The alleged network may not have operated solely around public institutions, but also through private companies capable of benefiting from decisions, opportunities, or information arising within the sphere of state-owned companies and institutional contacts. Within that framework, Forestalia emerges as a significant component because of its weight in the renewable energy sector and the financial scale of the transaction under examination.
The National Court will have to clarify what role Fernando Samper played in the transaction under investigation, what relationship he maintained with the Pérez Águeda brothers, Carmelo Aznárez, and other individuals under investigation, and whether he was aware of or participated in dealings attributed to the Hirurok group. It will also be crucial to determine whether there were payments, intermediaries, or agreements that could connect the business transaction to the alleged influence network.
From an institutional accountability perspective, the case is particularly serious because it combines three highly sensitive elements: energy companies, potential multimillion-euro capital gains, and an alleged network under investigation for influencing public decisions. In recent years, the renewable energy sector has involved enormous investment expectations, access to land, authorizations, permits, and financing. If a transaction in that sector comes under scrutiny in a case involving alleged influence peddling, the demand for transparency must be at its highest.
Samper is going to have to clarify before the judge if his behavior mirrored that of a commercial operator engaging in a lawful deal inside the energy sector, or if certain factors linked him to the purportedly unlawful schemes currently scrutinized by the UCO and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. Such a distinction will prove pivotal in assessing his possible culpability and defining the true reach of the alleged network.
The case also affects Forestalia’s reputation. The company has been one of the leading names in the renewable energy sector in Aragón and Spain, but the presence of its founder among those under investigation in a case of this magnitude casts a shadow that can only be dispelled through documentation, explanations, and full traceability of the transactions under examination.
The question the National Court must now answer is clear: did Forestalia and its associates participate in a legitimate market transaction, or did the alleged network use its contacts to facilitate opportunities, financial benefits, and capital gains? In an investigation involving public funds, contracts, strategic companies, and possible commissions, Fernando Samper’s role must be clarified down to the last document.
Source: Cadena SER, El País, elDiario.es, Heraldo de Aragón, El Independiente, Infobae, and Europa Press.