Judge orders embezzlement trial for Spain PM’s wife

Begona Gomez, wife of Spain's prime minister Pedro Sanchez, attends the 41st congress of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) at the Palacio de Exposiciones in Seville, on December 1, 2024. (File/AFP)

• PM Sanchez has dismissed the allegations against his wife as an attempt to undermine his government by the right, which has demanded his resignation

MADRID: A judge investigating Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s wife Begona Gomez for alleged embezzlement has ordered that she face trial in a case roiling national politics, a court document showed on Wednesday.
The long-running probe is one of several into Sanchez’s family and former close allies that have embarrassed the Socialist leader and heaped pressure on his minority coalition.
The embezzlement investigation centers on whether an official employed in the premier’s office, Cristina Alvarez, worked for Gomez during her past academic job at Madrid’s Complutense University at the expense of her public duties.
Judge Juan Carlos Peinado said in a ruling dated Tuesday that his preliminary investigation showed that a jury trial was warranted and summoned her to appear in court on Saturday.
He cited emails sent by Alvarez to third parties that “clearly seem to exceed her duties” and constituted “sufficient evidence.”
Gomez’s “personal friendship” with Alvarez was “the reason for her appointment to the position of highest trust,” Peinado wrote in his ruling.
The appointment, which aimed to serve and improve Gomez’s private activities, “could represent a diversion of public resources in favor of private interests,” Peinado said.
Gomez can appeal and the ruling is not yet definitive.
Gomez denied wrongdoing during a court appearance before Peinado in Madrid two weeks ago.
She told her lawyer Alvarez never helped her in her private professional activities, though she occasionally sent messages that did not affect her primary work, according to legal sources.
Gomez said spouses of previous prime ministers hired staff to coordinate their agenda and security, the sources added.
Peinado set off the saga in April 2024 by opening an investigation to determine whether Gomez exploited her position as Sanchez’s wife for private benefit after complaints by groups with far-right ties.
Sanchez has dismissed the allegations against his wife as an attempt to undermine his government by the right, which has demanded his resignation.
This month he said there were “judges who do politics and politicians who try to do justice” and denounced spurious complaints by groups with far-right links.
Separate corruption probes have ensnared two former Socialist heavyweights, Santos Cerdan and ex-transport minister Jose Luis Abalos, as well as the prime minister’s younger brother David Sanchez.
The legal troubles compound woes for the minority government which engages in laborious negotiations with an array of fringe and regional separatist parties to try to pass legislation.