Peinado sends Begoña Gómez to trial before retiring

MadridJudge Juan Carlos Peinado sends the wife of the Spanish Prime Minister, Begoña Gómez, to trial. Thus ends more than two years of judicial investigation, directly questioned by the Spanish government and, at times, by the judiciary itself. This Monday, a few days before his retirement, Judge Peinado issued the final indictment to have Gómez sit in the dock for crimes of embezzlement and influence peddling. The Spanish Prime Minister's wife will be tried by a popular jury, nine citizens of Madrid chosen at random, and, depending on the calendar, it could take place in parallel with the 2027 general elections.

This is the second time that 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. The magistrate's decision, which is not appealable, comes just a week before his retirement: he will end his career this coming Sunday, September 27.

The instructor's thesis

At first, the judge had attributed up to four crimes to Gómez and even withdrew her passport due to a hypothetical flight risk, but the Madrid 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".

Although the Moncloa maintains that Gómez's connection with the Complutense is much earlier than Sánchez's presidency, in this Monday's interlocutory order, to which ARA has had access, Peinado maintains that "she would have taken advantage of her proximity to the Prime Minister to boost her professional projection around the Complutense University of Madrid, obtaining thanks to this a unique interlocution with those responsible for the public university, with sponsoring companies and with entities in the technology sector". In fact, the magistrate reaffirms that the fact that Sánchez arrived at the Moncloa marked a before and an after for Gómez's career. For this reason, he concludes that one must proceed to the "opening of an oral trial before the jury court". In the same sense, he also sends Cristina Álvarez, an advisor to Begoña Gómez at the Moncloa, to trial, as he considers her a necessary collaborator in the commission of the alleged crimes.

"Condemnation" from the Moncloa

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

In the view of La Moncloa, it is an "arbitrary and unjust" investigation that only responds to "judicial persecution against Gómez for being the wife of the President of the Government". 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.

If there are any cases in which La Moncloa has been especially forceful against judicial decisions, they have been those of Begoña Gómez and the Spanish President's brother, David Sánchez, already sentenced to nine years of disqualification. Unlike the cases of Ábalos, Leire Díez, or Santos Cerdán, to whom they do attribute bad practices and give veracity to the judicial cases, in the case of the Spanish President's immediate circle, they directly denounce a persecution against Sánchez.

Sánchez, on a trip

The Spanish government also notes that Peinado issues 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 was on an important trip to China, where he also attended accompanied by Gómez. "The political intention, the harassment, and the dehumanization are unquestionable," they denounce bluntly. The PSOE also denounces the origin of the case, which they consider political: 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 an opposing position throughout the procedure. In fact, only the popular accusations are requesting prison sentences: Hazte Oír, under which all of them are grouped, asks for 13 years in prison for Gómez and six for Álvarez.

The PP and Vox have lashed out at the Spanish government upon learning the news. "Murders and attacks are condemned, not a judge opening an oral trial against your boss's wife," declared the spokesperson for the Popular Party group in Congress, Esther Muñoz, following the reaction from the Moncloa. "There isn't a big enough defendant's bench for so much of Pedro Sánchez's entourage," party sources reaffirmed, taking into account that the decision also coincided with progress in the Zapatero case, whom the judge has given three days to explain himself regarding the jewels and has summoned his two daughters as under investigation on November 30th. The far-right has been even tougher. The leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, reacted to Peinado's decision by asserting that the Spanish president's wife will be tried for crimes "typical of a gang of scammers." The political term is just beginning and Sánchez's judicial life is already becoming complicated.