The judge Peinado withdraws the passport from Begoña Gómez and sends her to trial

BarcelonaJudge Juan Carlos Peinado sends Begoña Gómez, wife of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, to trial and revokes her passport. The magistrate resolved this Saturday the request for precautionary measures made by the popular accusers in Monday's hearing. Thus, Gómez will not be able to accompany Sánchez on international trips. In addition to the passport revocation, he also prohibits her from leaving the State and obliges her to report to the court every fifteen days. These are the measures requested by Hazte Oír, the ultra entity that groups the popular accusers, because they considered there was a risk of flight. However, they did not request preventive detention. Peinado also accepts the same precautionary measures for Begoña Gómez's advisor, Cristina Álvarez.

On Monday, the preliminary hearing for a trial by popular jury was held, and Peinado took five days to decide whether to accept the requested precautionary measures. In the meantime, he has opened a new line of investigation for the crimes of prevarication and fraud against the interests of the European Union for a contract awarded to a company owned by Juan Carlos Barrabés. For the businessman, who is ill, the popular accusers did not request any precautionary measures.

The role of bodyguards, according to Peinado

How is the passport withdrawal for Gómez justified? Although the Spanish president's wife is always accompanied by escorts – this is the argument her defense used to reject the precautionary measures requested by Hazte Oír – the judge considers that these agents could help Gómez flee: "These agents, at a given moment, may, either on their own initiative or following orders from their hierarchical superiors, collaborate in the action or actions to facilitate this escape, making it impossible for the accused to be available to justice". The judge adds, moreover, that the "condition" of Spanish president Pedro Sánchez is something "ephemeral and, therefore, transitory", which means that the escorts Begoña Gómez now has may "disappear". "This would further facilitate this hypothetical escape".

The justification used by the magistrate has outraged the majority union of the National Police, Jupol, which, in a statement, has demanded a "rectification" from the judge. "It is an absolute outrage to suggest that members of the National Police and, in particular, agents assigned to the security of the government presidency can collaborate in a hypothetical escape or in any action aimed at removing a person from the action of justice, no matter who says it", they criticize. The SUP union has also joined in, having described Peinado's statement as "especially worrying": "National police officers do not act outside the law".

In addition to the police complaints, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has conveyed "the strongest complaint" to the president of the General Council of the Judiciary, Isabel Perelló, for "the serious questioning of the professionalism of the members of the State Security Forces and Corps". In this regard, he asks her to "adopt the measures that may be appropriate in the exercise of her powers".

The judge also uses another argument to justify the flight risk: he speculates about the sentence that Gómez may receive and posits the "hypothesis" that it may be more than two years in prison. In this case, he recalls that she would have to enter a penitentiary center. "The possibility that the accused [Gómez and Álvarez] may attempt to evade the action of justice and thus fulfill a flight risk that is being attempted to avoid by adopting a precautionary measure is taken into account," he justifies.

Opening of oral trial

Peinado sends Begoña Gómez to trial for the crimes of influence peddling, corruption in private business, misappropriation, and embezzlement of public funds. He also wants to try her advisor, Cristina Álvarez, for the same crimes, and the businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés for the crimes of influence peddling and corruption in private business.

What is the judge's thesis? That Begoña Gómez allegedly used her status as the Spanish president's wife to obtain personal benefits. The judge considers that she made a "radical change" in her professional career from the moment Pedro Sánchez arrived at Moncloa. Peinado exemplifies this by stating that Sánchez became president of the Spanish government in July 2018 – although the judge mistakenly writes 2028 – and that in August of that same year, Gómez changed jobs and was appointed director of the IE Africa Center, when she established "links" with the World Tourism Organization and with one of Barrabés' companies.

In this regard, he focuses on the letters of recommendation he signed in favor of the businessman when dealing with the administration. He also focuses on the creation of a chair at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), where she allegedly created a computer application that the judge suspects because she patented it in her own name. He considers, in this sense, that this chair was not created through an ordinary channel, but was preceded "at least" by a meeting between the rector of the UCM, Joaquín Goyache, at Moncloa.

Peinado sees influence peddling in the facts he has investigated and again makes a reference to the reign of Ferdinand VII to justify it. He believes that no matter how much one analyzes or searches jurisprudence, "a case of similar characteristics cannot be found" and adds: "The conduct that comes from presidential palaces, like this alleged case, seems more typical of absolutist regimes, fortunately, already forgotten in time in our State." And at this point, he believes that, in any case, one would have to "go back to the reign of Ferdinand VII". 

The judge also questions the work of Gómez's advisor, Cristina Álvarez, for carrying out tasks related to her private work while being paid by the Spanish government. Regarding Barrabés, Peinado emphasizes that he "intensified" his professional relationship with Begoña Gómez and used his academic position "in favor" of his business interests.

Given all this, the popular prosecution of Hazte Oír requests up to 24 years in prison for Sánchez's wife, while the Prosecutor's Office has requested the case be dismissed as it sees no crime. Begoña Gómez's defense has appealed her indictment to the Provincial Court of Madrid and has also announced it will appeal Saturday's decision to confiscate her passport, according to the Efe agency. So far, the Provincial Court has upheld the investigation but has limited its scope of action. Furthermore, it raised objections to the popular jury procedure, as it warned Peinado that at first it was not sufficiently justified.

La Moncloa lashes out at Peinado

The reaction of the socialists to Peinado's decision has been almost immediate. From Moncloa, sources consulted by ARA consider that this move confirms the judge's "persecution, obsession, and disproportion" against Begoña Gómez. In fact, they consider that the decision lacks "all legal sense and only attends to political motives," reports Andrea Zamorano. The Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños, has voiced this. "Today is a terrible day for those of us who believe in justice [...] Who will repair the damage caused?", he wrote on X.

Along the same lines, the socialist organization secretary, Rebeca Torró, described it as "excessive and disproportionate" in a message on X. Party sources have also insisted on the same thesis and have stressed that Begoña Gómez is "innocent": "Some have tried to construct a public condemnation without any evidence to support it. They have played with the reputation and life of a person simply because she is the wife of the president of the government," they lament. From the PSOE, moreover, they consider that this case is also "undermining the image of justice and democracy." However, they warn that they will continue to "do politics in capital letters".

The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has also shown his "solidarity" with Begoña Gómez, who in a message on X assured that there are judicial decisions "difficult to understand and clearly excessive when the will to collaborate is absolute".

Podem, for its part, has accused Peinado of having crossed "all limits of prevarication", said the spokesperson, Pablo Fernández. On the other hand, from the PP, its general secretary, Miguel Tellado, has taken the opportunity to once again call for elections and has accused Sánchez of having "turned Moncloa into a den of delinquents and the executive into a criminal organization".