Judge Peinado closes the investigation against Begoña Gómez and leaves her one step away from trial

MadridTwo years after kicking off the investigation that led to Pedro Sánchez's famous five days of reflection, Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has decided to close the investigation into Begoña Gómez, leaving her one step away from trial for four crimes. She is accused of influence peddling, embezzlement, business corruption, and misappropriation. He believes her status as the Spanish president's wife served "to influence" and allowed her "to access, thanks to that position, institutionally exceptional interlocutions." However, at the last minute, the magistrate dismisses the crime of labor intrusion. Likewise, he takes the same step for her advisor at Moncloa, Cristina Álvarez, and for the businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés. The popular prosecutions, led by Hazte Oír, now have five days to request the opening of oral proceedings and file their indictment, which must contain the number of years in prison they are seeking. The Prosecutor's Office has long called for the case to be dismissed. Should it go to trial, as is foreseeable, Begoña Gómez will be tried by a popular jury.

Throughout the 39-page order, Juan Carlos Peinado makes sixteen references to Pedro Sánchez as the president of the Spanish government. "As consideration, Begoña Gómez offered the competitive advantage of the aforementioned companies, in privileged or close dealings with the public administration, taking advantage of the fact that her husband is the president of the government of Spain," concludes the magistrate. He points out that the companies she was involved with were "participants in numerous public tender processes" and maintains that the contacts she maintained "were aimed at obtaining future undue private or commercial benefits." In other words, the sponsorship was the "facade" of "hidden remuneration for future benefits" related to the fact that Pedro Sánchez is her husband. "This is not about isolated, accessory, or purely protocol contacts, but about a continuous, direct, and operational action," he adds.

Regarding fundraising, he believes Begoña Gómez was seeking funds for the chair "apparently" and that, in reality, they were to "integrate them into her personal assets". In relation to the alleged crime of influence peddling, Juan Carlos Peinado says that since Pedro Sánchez was elected president of the Spanish government, "certain public decisions favorable" to the chair that Begoña Gómez co-directed at the Complutense University of Madrid were taken: "It could have been obtained through a singular exploitation of her relational position".