Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has ordered Begoña Gómez, wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, to stand trial by jury, and told border posts and airports to stop her leaving the country.
A court order released Saturday requires Gómez, 55, to surrender her passport and appear before the court twice a month until a verdict. “The necessary instructions shall be issued to all border posts and civilian and military airports,” the court said. No trial date has been set.
The charges
Peinado formally charged her in April with embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings and misappropriation of funds. The investigation began in April 2024 and asks whether she used her position as the prime minister’s wife to gain private benefits. The case centers on a chair at Madrid’s Complutense University that she co-directed, and on claims that public resources and personal connections were used to advance private interests.
Gómez has consistently denied wrongdoing. The case started with a complaint from Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), a self-styled trade union with far-right links.
Sánchez and the Socialists push back
Sánchez has repeatedly called the case baseless and a politically motivated smear. He has accused conservative and far-right forces of using the courts against his family, and has openly questioned the impartiality of some judges. Opposition parties have used the case to demand his resignation.
Government sources said the judge’s latest decisions confirmed “the persecution, obsession, and disproportionate actions of a judge who has conducted an investigation that clearly lacks any public purpose.” The Socialist party posted on X that Gómez “has been subjected to judicial and political persecution for two years.”
A row over the police
Part of Peinado’s reasoning has drawn anger from police unions. He wrote that some officers assigned to protect Gómez as the prime minister’s wife “could be the very ones who collaborate” in helping her flee. The JUPOL union called the remark “utterly outrageous” and demanded a retraction. The United Police Union called it “profoundly worrying” and wrote to the interior minister, asking him to defend officers’ integrity.
Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary was reported to have called an urgent meeting on Monday to decide whether to open disciplinary action against Peinado over the assertions.
Other cases around Sánchez
Sánchez took power in 2018 promising to end the graft that had mired the conservative People’s party. Several investigations into his family and former allies now threaten his government. He has not been named in any of them. His brother David is accused of influence peddling, and former transport minister José Luis Ábalos is accused of taking kickbacks on public contracts. Both deny it.
Former Socialist prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, in office from 2004 to 2011, was placed under investigation last month for alleged influence peddling. He defended his innocence at hearings this week.
Sources
- Spanish PM’s wife to stand trial on corruption charges and banned from leaving country
- Spanish PM Sanchez's wife ordered to stand trial, barred from leaving country – Türkiye Today
