A sensation has been caused by Prime Minister Sanchez’s announcement that he is considering the possibility of resigning after the preliminary investigation against his wife, announced by a Madrid court.
The investigation into the socialist prime minister’s wife is “subject to a secrecy order”, according to the court, and was ordered following a lawsuit filed by the anti-corruption group Manos Limpias, (“Clean Hands”), which is said to be close to the far-right.
The news shocked the government Sanchez with the prime minister announcing a few hours later in a letter, posted on platform X, that he is considering the possibility of submitting his resignation.
Letter to the citizens. pic.twitter.com/c2nFxTXQTK
— Pedro Sanchez (@sanchezcastejon) April 24, 2024
“I need to stop and think” in order to decide, as Sanchez reports, “if I should continue as head of government or renounce this honor.”
Although he denies the accusations against his wife, Sanchez has suspended his activities and will announce his decision on Monday.
Why are they investigating Pedro Sanchez’s wife?
As reported by the online news site El Confidencial, which brought the information to light, this preliminary investigation against Sanchez’s wife, Begonia Gomet, concerns her relations with private companies that had received state support during the pandemic or signed contracts with the state while her husband was head of the Spanish government.
The seven-page complaint by Manos limpias, founded in 1995, against Sanchez’s wife also includes eight newspaper reports, at least one of which has been proven false.
“Manos limpias” accuses Gomet of her relations with the Spanish tourism group Globalia, which owns the airline Air Europa, when the latter was in talks with the government to secure aid after the big drop in air traffic caused by the health crisis.
At the time, Sanchez’s wife ran the IE Africa Center, which is affiliated with her business school. Madrid IE University, but left her post in 2022. According to El Confidencial, the IE Africa Center had “signed a sponsorship agreement with Globalia in 2020” and Begonia Gomet had participated in “a private meeting with its CEO Javier Intaglco on at a time when Globalia was negotiating its multi-million euro bailout plan with the government.”
This plan allowed the granting of €475 million to Air Europa in November 2020.
“Trump practices”
The organization that filed the lawsuit against Sanchez’s wife is headed by lawyer Miguel Bernard, a former official of the Frente Naconal party, which was dissolved in 1993. Bernard had been sentenced at first instance in 2021 to four years in prison for attempting to extort large companies, but was acquitted in last month by Spain’s Supreme Court for lack of evidence.
“Manos Limpias” utilizes a tool of the Spanish Judiciary known as “popular prosecution” to file criminal charges against third parties. Judges can choose whether to order an investigation based on such charges, and not all have led to an investigation. Some, however, did, such as the “Manos Limpias” charges against Infanta Cristina, youngest daughter of former King Juan Carlos, who was prosecuted for complicity in tax fraud. She was acquitted, but her husband, Inaki Urdagarin, was convicted of fraud and tax evasion.
Sanchez: I have confidence in the Spanish Justice system
Asked yesterday in Parliament about his wife’s case, Pedro Sanchez said that he has confidence in justice: “A day like today, despite the news I heard, I still have confidence in the Justice of my country,” he said.
After the first revelations of the press about this case, the Spanish Right multiplied the criticisms against the prime minister. The announcement of the launch of the investigation is “important enough for the head of the government to give explanations to the Spanish,” Esther Munioth, a member of the right-wing People’s Party (PP) executive, told reporters yesterday.
In a session of the Spanish Parliament last month, the leader of the Popular Party, Alberto Nunez Feijo, had warned Sanchez that an investigation would be launched. “If you refuse to explain again…. there will be a detailed investigation into matters concerning your loved ones, certainly a parliamentary investigation and if necessary a judicial one,” he said with Spain’s Minister of Finance and Public Administration Maria Jesus Montero raising the gauntlet and replying: “They are using a false complaint far-right organization to slander the prime minister and tarnish his reputation. We will not allow these Trumpian practices to undermine Spanish democracy.”
What is Begonia Gometh?
Hailing from the Basque Country, Maria Begonia Gomet Fernandez, better known as Begonia Gomet, was born in 1975 in Bilbao.
According to iefimerida, she holds a marketing degree from ESIC in Madrid and a master’s degree in Business Administration and International Relations, and the Spanish media often compares her to Michelle Obama.
Sanchez’s wife has also worked – as a fund-raising specialist – with NGOs and institutions such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, Intermon and Anesvad, while she was also director of the Spain and Portugal branch of the Inmark Europa group, specializing in in advice and support of international development companies.
Begonia first met her future husband in 2003 at a mutual friend’s birthday party. It was love at first sight and three years later Pedro Sánchez and Begonia were married in Madrid’s town hall. The couple has two children, Ainoa, who was born in 2005, and Carlotta, who is two years younger than her.
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