Pedro Sánchez’s wife will testify before a Spanish court in corruption case

The judicial fence is tightening around the wife of the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchezwho was summoned to testify at the beginning of July as being investigated in a case of alleged corruption and influence peddling.

Since this investigation against Begoña Gómez was announced, the issue has become a nightmare for the socialist Pedro Sánchez, who announced at the end of April, to general surprise, that he was considering resigning, something he ultimately did not do.

The matter escalated this Tuesday, when the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid announced that Begoña was summoned to testify as under investigation on July 5.

In a brief statement, the justice explained that Begoña Gómez must appear “in an investigative capacity” that day at 10:00 (08:00 GMT), for the alleged “corruption crimes in the private sector and influence peddling.”

The government has “absolute tranquility, because we know that there is nothing here” against Gómez, said the executive’s spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, at a press conference, who asserted that the complaint is based on “lies and hoaxes.”

“What we have here is a mud campaign from the right and the extreme right”Alegría stressed.

The opposition calls for Sánchez’s resignation

For its part, the right-wing opposition immediately celebrated the news and called for Sánchez’s resignation.

The President of the Government must “assume political responsibility immediately” and “communicate to the nation what your decision is”, wrote in X Alberto Núñez Feijóo, head of the conservative Popular Party (PP), the main opposition party. “Any president of the Government with a minimum of dignity would resign today,” PP spokesperson Borja Sémper told journalists on his side.

This Tuesday’s decision comes after the court rejected last week the request of the Prosecutor’s Office that recommended closing the investigation, having not found elements “enough” to continue it.

It was also taken despite a report from the Civil Guard, in which they reported that they saw no crime.

But for the Madrid court “There are indications about the alleged commission of a criminal act”that “They are more than just suspicions” and “are enough” for the investigation to continue.

The investigations were opened following a complaint from a group close to the extreme right, Clean Hands, which admitted that it was based solely on press articles.

“Harassment and demolition”

The court, by dismissing the Prosecutor’s appeal, limited the scope of the investigation, which initially focused on Gómez’s links with the general director of the Spanish tourism group Globalia, at the time when the latter was negotiating public aid for his airline. Air Europa during the covid pandemic.

But the court dismissed that part of the case on the grounds that it was based on “improbable”and limited the investigations to public contracts awarded to a businessman who had professional relations with Gómez.

At the end of April, Sánchez framed the accusations against his wife in a strategy of “harassment and demolition” against his left-wing government carried out by “media with a marked right-wing and ultra-right orientation”, supported by the conservative opposition.

“My wife is an honest, serious and responsible professional, and my Government is a clean government,” Sánchez said in the Congress of Deputies two weeks ago, assuming that justice will end up archiving the “false allegations.”

The accusations against Gomez sparked a diplomatic crisis with Argentina last month.

Visiting Madrid to attend a convention of the far-right party Vox, the Argentine president, the ultraliberal Javier Milei, echoed the attacks of the Spanish right against Sánchez’s wife, and referred to her as “corrupt woman”. In response, Spain withdrew “definitely” to his ambassador in Argentina.

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