A NATIONAL Court judge has launched a probe into the president of Spanish steelmaker Sidenor and other company bosses over the alleged illegal export of steel to Israel for weapons production.
The El Pais newspaper said Investigating Judge Francisco de Jorge has placed Sidenor President Jose Antonio Jainaga Gomez and two other executives under investigation for suspected smuggling and complicity in crimes against humanity or genocide.
The three defendants have been summoned to testify on November 12.
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A court statement said it will look into steel shipments to Israel Military Industries (IMI) Systems, a weapons manufacturer, which were allegedly carried out with full awareness that the material would be used to produce arms.
The judge said the facts surrounding Israel’s military actions in Gaza are ‘public knowledge’” and quoted media coverage, statements by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), in addition to preliminary assessments by the International Criminal Court as evidence for criminality.
The National Court will also examine whether Sidenor failed to obtain mandatory government authorisation for the steel exports.
This summer, Sidenor announced it would halt all trade with Israel after media reports that the firm had shipped 1,207 tons of steel bars to Israeli weapons manufacturer IMI Systems over a 10-month period starting in August 2024.
A Sidenor statement said: “Sidenor has put the issue in the hands of its lawyers and will follow their instructions to respond to the judge in the process initiated, to whom it will give all the information in its possession.”
“On July 1, Sidenor made public its decision to suspend all trade relations with Israel. This agreement was made following the decision of the Government of Spain in April to suspend contracts with Israel,” it concluded.
Spain’s government suspended all arms trade with Israel since its retaliation in Gaza began two years ago over the Hamas attack and it recently passed a bill to enshrine the embargo in law,
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