Peinado sends Begoña Gómez to trial and from the Moncloa they denounce "judicial persecution"

MadridJudge Juan Carlos Peinado sends the wife of the Spanish Prime Minister, Begoña Gómez, to trial. This Monday, he issued the order to open an oral trial for crimes of embezzlement and influence peddling, and it is expected that Gómez will sit in the dock before a popular jury. This is the second time Peinado has made this move, as he already attempted it in June, but now he does so having been nuanced and also endorsed by the Provincial Court of Madrid.

At first, the judge attributed up to four crimes to Gómez and withdrew her passport, but the Court corrected him by archiving two crimes—business corruption and misappropriation—and suppressing the precautionary measures. However, it endorsed the bulk of Peinado's investigation: the instructor's thesis is that Sánchez's wife benefited from being the partner of the Prime Minister to create the chair linked to the Complutense University of Madrid and that she later diverted software created within the framework of this chair for "private purposes".

In the same vein, Peinado also sends Cristina Álvarez, who is Begoña Gómez's advisor at Moncloa, to trial for the same crimes. The magistrate's decision comes just a week before his retirement: he will end his career this very Sunday, September 27.

In the order, to which ARA has had access, Peinado concludes that it is necessary to proceed with the "opening of an oral trial before the jury court", which means that Sánchez's wife will be judged by a group of nine randomly selected citizens of Madrid. Although Moncloa maintains that Gómez's link with the Complutense is much earlier than his presidency, the magistrate maintains that "she would have taken advantage of her proximity to the Prime Minister to boost her professional projection around the UCM, obtaining thanks to this a unique interlocution with those responsible for the public university, with sponsoring companies and with entities in the technology sector".

The Moncloa did not take long to react. Sources from the Spanish government have condemned Judge Peinado's decision, as they consider that during the investigation the innocence of Pedro Sánchez's wife has been "clearly demonstrated." "We are sure that this will be proven in court. We maintain full confidence that the jury will be fair and will deliver justice," they state.

In the view of the Moncloa, this is an "arbitrary and unfair" investigation that only responds to "judicial persecution against Gómez for being the wife of the Prime Minister." A complaint that Pedro Sánchez himself has made repeatedly in recent weeks. In the recent interview he gave onEl intermedio on La Sexta, he accused Peinado of having done "great harm" to the justice system.

Sánchez, on a trip

The Spanish government also points out that Peinado issued this court order during Sánchez's international trip to the United Nations General Assembly. A fact that is not isolated: they recall that this judge tends to make decisions related to Gómez coinciding with Sánchez's agenda abroad. For example, the day he decided to close the investigation the Spanish president had an important trip to China, where he also went accompanied by Gómez. "The political intention, the harassment, and the dehumanization are unquestionable," they denounce bluntly. Also from the PSOE, they denounce the origin of the case: they highlight that it was initiated by the push of the far-right pseudo-union Manos Limpias and that the Public Prosecutor's Office has maintained a contrary position throughout the proceedings. However, what is certain is that if Begoña Gómez ends up being tried, it is because not only does Peinado believe there is evidence: it has also been endorsed by the Provincial Court of Madrid.