All that we know about Forestalia, the latest shadow of corruption over the Spanish government

Forestalia is a major Aragonese renewable energy company that is quite well known in Camp de Tarragona: it intended to promote a 287-kilometer high-voltage line, 181 of which are in Catalan territory, to bring electricity from Aragon to Catalonia. A project, controversial at the time, which is now history. However, the headaches for the company are not over, and now the dust is being generated by an alleged environmental corruption case that, for the moment, has resulted in six arrests. What is being investigated?

Let's take it step by step. The case has already been dubbed the Forestalia case. This Friday, a hearing for precautionary measures is scheduled by the magistrate responsible for the case. Broadly speaking, an alleged environmental corruption scheme affecting the province of Teruel, in Aragon, is being investigated. The case came to light ten days ago, when the Central Operational Unit for the Environment (UCO) of the Guardia Civil arrested six people, including a former senior official from the Ministry for Ecological Transition, Eugenio Domínguez, and the owner of the company, Fernando Samper. Searches were also carried out in Madrid and Zaragoza. Juan José Cortés Hidalgo, head of Court of First Instance and Instruction No. 1 of Teruel, is directing the investigation under judicial secrecy.

The investigation focuses on alleged crimes of environmental prevarication, bribery, money laundering, and belonging to a criminal organization after detecting irregularities in the environmental processing of contracts for various wind and solar panel projects by Forestalia. According to the agency Efe, one of the pillars of the investigation is whether Domínguez obtained irregular commissions in exchange for benefiting Forestalia in the processing of its renewable energy projects in the province of Teruel.

Among the affected projects is, precisely, the largest wind farm in the State, the so-called Clúster del Maestrat, a project that, although eagerly awaited by local mayors for the millions it would bring, has drawn strong criticism from residents and environmental organizations due to its impact on the natural environment. In fact, several environmental groups in Aragon have demanded this Friday the "precautionary suspension of all Forestalia projects in development in Aragon, regardless of the phase they are in". The magistrate, in fact, has to decide whether to do so in the case of the projects under investigation. The organizations denounce that they "were aware of the irregularities committed by the company" and express their displeasure that the facts have not been given "credibility" until the Guardia Civil investigated them.

However, the scheme fully implicates the Ministry for Ecological Transition, now led by Sara Aagesen, which has already announced an "analysis" to detect whether environmental procedures were carried out correctly or not. Who is who?

At the center of the investigation – and among the detainees – is the owner of the company, Fernando Samper, who was released after testifying. He founded Forestalia in 2011 after distancing himself from his brothers, all heirs to the meat empire Grupo Jorge, and despite renewable energies not being at their best, he bet everything on this sector.

The company's headquarters are in Zaragoza and it currently has 200 employees. Its activity focuses on projects related to wind energy, photovoltaics, and biomass generation. It has projects that generate about 4GW, but if the development pipeline is taken into account, the figure rises to 8GW. In 2016, after years without renewable energy auctions, Mariano Rajoy's PP, through the Ministry of Energy under Álvaro Nadal, reactivated them, and the company took a leap forward. Between 2016 and 2017 alone, Forestalia was awarded 1,924 MW of renewables.

Also noteworthy is Eugenio Domínguez, who was Deputy Director General of Environmental Assessment for the Ministry for Ecological Transition between 2017 and June 2023. Once he left, he continued as an advisor for a few months. This area of the ministry is responsible for studying whether a large project, whether it is renewable energy or not, complies with environmental regulations. The Minister for Ecological Transition has defended that he is not "a senior official" of the ministry during the tenure of her predecessor, Teresa Ribera (PSOE), but rather a "senior civil servant". Domínguez joined the ministry when the head of the ministry was the popular Álvaro Nadal (PP).

What is the connection with Leire Díez?

But Forestalia's headaches don't end there. The company has been linked to former socialist militant Leire Díez, although the link between them is not new. Forestalia's name appeared on the list of companies searched by the UCO in December 2025, as part of an ongoing case being investigated by the National High Court and directed by magistrate Antonio Piña, which is also under judicial secrecy.

That operation focuses on the crimes of fraud, document forgery, embezzlement, influence peddling, and prevarication, and targets the period when Díez worked for the public company Enusa, in which SEPI, the Spanish government's investment arm, holds a 60% stake. In fact, Vicente Fernández, former president of SEPI, and the owner of Servinabar, Antxon Alonso – also a friend and alleged partner of Santos Cerdán, former number three of the PSOE – have also been implicated in this operation.

In the Díez scheme, the individuals allegedly received approximately "750,000 euros in commissions" in exchange for intervening in at least five operations involving public companies and entities dependent on SEPI, according to investigation sources. In the case of Forestalia, the judge recorded aid from SEPI of 17.32 million euros to Arapelle, a company linked to the renewable energy company, with a commission of 200,000 euros.

However, as revealed by El País, Eugenio Domínguez, the former senior official from Ecological Transition, stated in his testimony two weeks ago to the Guardia Civil agents that Antxon Alonso participated in the meetings to design the corporate structure through which the former senior official allegedly received illegal commissions in exchange for the manipulation of environmental procedures that would have benefited Forestalia.