Sánchez’s wife to appear in court on alleged corruption charges

A Spanish judge on Tuesday summoned the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D), Begoña Gómez, to appear in court on 5 July as a ‘person under investigation’ for alleged corruption and influence peddling in the private sector, following an earlier complaint by a controversial civil servants’ union linked to the far right.

The government, for its part, was “surprised” by the “coincidence” of having learned of this information “precisely this week”, despite huge media interest, government spokeswoman and Education Minister Pilar Alegría said on Tuesday.

Alegría conveyed a message of “absolute calm” to the public because, as she recalled, “there is nothing to worry about” Sánchez’s wife, despite a recent report by the Civil Guard.

On the side of the opposition, however, the leader of Spain’s main opposition, Partido Popular (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, demanded on Tuesday that Sánchez “take responsibility” for the case.

“He (Sánchez) arrived six years ago at La Moncloa (the seat of the Government in Madrid) claiming to champion regeneration and has ended up with his wife under investigation (…),” said Feijóo.

The judge summoned Gómez as part of an investigation following a complaint filed by the far-right trade union Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), in which legal experts are analysing several public contracts awarded to private companies allegedly thanks to the influence and alleged mediation of the prime minister’s wife.

The investigation points directly to Juan Carlos Barrabés, a professor at the Master’s programme of the Complutense University of Madrid, of which Gómez was co-director at the time of the events.

EFE reported that the businessman, who is president of the group of the same name and administrator of the company Innova Next until 2022, has been summoned as a witness in the investigation.

The investigation also targets several senior officials of the state-owned company Red.es, which awarded several contracts to Barrabés’ group in 2021.

Involvement of the EU Prosecutor

Meanwhile, the judge responsible for investigating the case agreed on Tuesday to open a separate investigation to determine whether any contracts under scrutiny were financed with EU funds.

The second investigation was opened after the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) requested it.

On 26 April, the EPPO asked the Spanish judiciary to inform it “as soon as possible” of the “facts and offences” related to these judicial proceedings, EFE reported.

The judge in charge of the case sent a copy of the requested information to the EPPO but did not assess whether the facts could be investigated by the EPPO or whether EU funds were involved.

Therefore, the judge decided to open a separate investigation to determine whether the contracts under investigation had been financed with EU funds.

If so, EPPO would be competent in investigating them.

As part of the investigation, the judge has also asked the Guardia Civil’s Central Operational Unit (UCO) – which investigates corruption offences – to obtain the files of contracts worth €10 million awarded to Barrabés’ companies by several Spanish government bodies, including Madrid City Council.

The judge is investigating whether these contracts may have been influenced by letters of recommendation allegedly signed by Begoña Gómez.

At the end of April, Sánchez announced that he would take five days to “reflect” on whether he would continue in his post or resign, following a campaign of harassment by the Partido Popular (EPP), the main opposition force, and the far-right VOX party (ECR), the third largest in parliament, aimed at discrediting his wife and “muddying” the Spanish political arena with “false accusations.”

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)

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