Passport surrendered, border posts alerted, court appearances twice a month. Those are the conditions Judge Juan Carlos Peinado set for Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, as he ordered her to stand trial on corruption-related charges.
His ruling came on Saturday. “Instructions shall be issued to all border posts and civilian and military airports” to make sure she does not leave Spain, it said. Peinado called her a potential flight risk. Sources close to Gómez told El País she intends to appeal the restrictions, including the confiscation of her passport.
What she is accused of
Peinado formally charged Gómez in April with influence peddling, corruption in business dealings, embezzlement and misappropriation of funds. The case centers on a university chair at Madrid’s Complutense University that she co-directed. The judge accuses her of influencing government contracts awarded to a group of technology companies, misusing public funds to hire a consultant, and making inappropriate use of software while working as a professor at a public university.
Peinado also ruled that a businessman who allegedly benefited from government contracts, and the consultant who worked for Gómez, should face trial too.
She denies any wrongdoing. The investigation began in April 2024 after a complaint from Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), a pressure group known for legal actions tied to right-wing causes and linked to the far right by Spanish media. Sánchez has not been accused of wrongdoing in the case.
A judge’s remark about police
One passage in the order stirred a fight of its own. Peinado wrote that officers who escort Gómez as the prime minister’s wife “could be the very ones who collaborate” in helping her flee. Police unions objected. The JUPOL union called the remark “utterly outrageous” and asked him to retract it. The United Police Union called it “profoundly worrying” and wrote to the interior minister. Spain in English suggested the suggestion could backfire and help Gómez on appeal. The General Council of the Judiciary was reported to have called an urgent meeting on Monday to consider disciplinary action against the judge.
Government and opposition
Sánchez has long called the case a politically motivated campaign by right-wing opponents. His party, the PSOE, called the judge’s move “an absolute scandal for democracy” and said: “Begoña Gómez is innocent. For two years now, she has been the target of a political and judicial witch hunt.” Moncloa, the prime minister’s residence, said the order showed the persecution and obsession of a judge who “only heeds political motives.”
The opposition People’s Party used the ruling to renew its call for an early general election. “Lawmakers and the architects of our constitution could never have imagined that the threats to our democracy could originate from the Spanish government itself,” said Miguel Tellado, the party’s secretary-general.
The Gómez case is one of several touching Sánchez’s circle. Close allies, among them a senior PSOE official and Sánchez’s former transport minister, are under investigation in separate cases over alleged kickbacks linked to public works contracts, oil and gas deals and Covid-19 face mask purchases. They deny wrongdoing. Former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero appeared before a judge this week in a probe over a government bailout for the airline Plus Ultra, and also denies the allegations.
The appeal
In July, the Madrid Provincial Court rejected Gómez’s appeal and ruled she must stand trial before a citizen jury on influence peddling and embezzlement. It dismissed the corruption in business dealings and misappropriation charges, and lifted the order to surrender her passport and report to court. No further appeal is possible, and no trial date has been announced.
Sources
- Spanish PM’s wife ordered to stand trial on corruption charges and surrender passport – Spain in English
- Spain PM Pedro Sánchez's Wife Ordered to Stand Trial as Corruption Pressure Mounts
- Spanish PM’s wife to stand trial on corruption charges and banned from leaving country
