Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has ended the two-year probe into Begoña Gómez, wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, proposing a jury trial for influence peddling, business corruption, misappropriation and embezzlement. The 39-page ruling also sends adviser Cristina Álvarez and businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés to the bench. Gómez learned of it in Beijing during her husband's official trip.
Madrid's Juzgado de Instrucción No. 41 Judge Juan Carlos Peinado notified a 39-page ruling on Monday ending the probe into Begoña Gómez. He drops the professional intrusion charge but finds evidence for four crimes: influence peddling, business corruption, misappropriation and embezzlement. He proposes a jury trial.
Peinado links the charges to the Transformación Social y Competitiva extraordinary chair Gómez directed at Universidad Complutense de Madrid from 2019, when Sánchez entered La Moncloa. He cites Moncloa meetings with executives like Telefónica's José María Álvarez-Pallete, Google's Miguel Escassi and Indra's Marc Murtra to gain project support, including sustainability certification software Gómez registered in her name. The judge values the patrimonial damage over €300,000, calling it a "finished, operational and ready product".
He names La Moncloa adviser Cristina Álvarez as a cooperator for alleged "moral pressure" in influence peddling and embezzlement for using public time on Gómez's private activities. Businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés faces charges for gaining public contracts after backing the chair. Peinado likens the case to "absolutist regimes" and references Fernando VII's era for lacking similar jurisprudence.
Begoña Gómez learned of the ruling in Beijing, accompanying Sánchez on an official tour including a banquet with Xi Jinping. La Moncloa sources say she found out via press upon hotel arrival. Her defense maintains her Complutense work was legal and she dropped more lucrative private jobs.
