Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has decided to merge the entire investigation against Begoña Gómez, wife of the Spanish Prime Minister, into a single judicial piece, following an order from the Audiencia Provincial de Madrid. This corrects the prior opening of a separate piece but allows the probe to continue within the main framework. The case involves alleged crimes of influence peddling and corruption.
The judge of Madrid's Court of Instruction Number 41, Juan Carlos Peinado, issued a ruling to consolidate the case against Begoña Gómez into a single piece, as ordered by the Audiencia Provincial de Madrid on October 3. This merges the main piece, investigating alleged crimes of influence peddling, business corruption, misappropriation of brand, and intrusion, with the separate piece on embezzlement of public funds.
The probe opened in April 2024 following a complaint by the pseudo-union Manos Limpias, accusing Gómez of leveraging her position as Pedro Sánchez's wife to influence public tenders, recommending businessmen like Juan Carlos Barrabés. For these facts, Gómez was charged with business corruption and influence peddling. Subsequent Vox complaints expanded the investigation to irregularities in registering software for a chair at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), co-directed by Gómez, and the appointment of Cristina Álvarez as an advisor in Moncloa.
The investigated parties include Gómez, Álvarez, Madrid's Government Delegate Francisco Martín Aguirre, and Barrabés. Peinado notified that, if it reaches trial, it will be heard by a popular jury due to influence peddling, which extends to the other crimes.
In March, the Audiencia corrected the opening of the separate piece as 'premature and unmotivated,' but endorsed its inclusion in the main one. The higher court noted that the crimes of influence peddling and embezzlement are 'intimately intertwined,' as Álvarez's role in the Presidency was allegedly used as an element of subjective influence. 'Both behaviors are intimately intertwined,' the Audiencia emphasized, stressing that evidence for both crimes is linked.
Prior to Peinado, three different judges dismissed three complaints against Gómez filed by ultra groups.