Spanish PM suspends public duties after court opens inquiry into his wife’s business dealings

by Mick the Ram

A court has launched a probe into the private business dealings of Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, prompting him to suspend his public duties and consider his future in the leading governmental role.

The preliminary proceedings against Ms Gómez relate to accusations aimed at her regarding possible corruption, founded on a series of stories published by news organisations, most notably El Confidencial.

Anti-corruption campaigners Manos Limpias (Clean Hands) were responsible for filing the complaint, but with links to the far right and involvement in a number of controversial high-profile court cases in recent years, there is a suggestion of alternate motivations at play.

Mr Sánchez has promised to appear before the media on Monday 29 April to announce his decision moving forward, after what he called a period where he will “stop and reflect” whether it would appropriate to remain in the job as PM.

PM to take time to decide future

The Spanish leader, who began a new term late last year having put together a fragile parliamentary majority following an inconclusive election, shared his feelings on his X account in which he said in a statement that he needed to decide “whether I should continue to lead the government or renounce this honour”.

Continuing, he said that the seriousness of the attacks that he and his wife were receiving merited a measured response and he needed to pause and legitimately ask himself if it was all worthwhile “despite the mud” that the right and far right were trying to turn politics into, but insisted that his wife would defend her honour and work with the judiciary.

To give himself some breathing space he made the decision to step away from public duties, but the man who has been in power since 2018 when he replaced a conservative leader – ironically felled by corruption allegations – added: “This attack is unprecedented and so serious and so crude that I need to stop and reflect with my wife”.

Series of allegations made

The court in Madrid made the decision to fully investigate the claim against Ms Gómez, but did not provide further details as the case is sealed and preliminary. It is understood that the PM’s wife is accused of “influence-peddling and business corruption”.

The suggestion has been made by Miguel Bernad, head of Clean Hands, who are essentially a self-styled civil servants’ labour union.

He accuses Ms Gómez of receiving favours from private businesses that won government tenders and were awarded subsidies as a result of her benefiting from her personal status as wife of the prime minister and allegedly secure sponsors for a university master’s degree course that she ran.

No charges brought so far

The news site El Confidencial published a report suggesting that a research hub that Ms Gómez represents had a relationship with businessman Javier Hidalgo and she met him in person when he was negotiating a Covid rescue package with the government. Air Europa airline, of which Mr Hidalgo’s father is chairman, apparently ended up receiving a package reportedly worth €475 million.

They also reported that Ms Gómez signed letters supporting a consortium’s successful bid for government contracts worth €10.2 million.

The opposition have naturally leaped all over the stories and have been using them to lay into Mr Sánchez with a series of attacks over several weeks, but it is important to recognise that just because an investigation has been given the go-ahead, it does not mean that Ms Gómez has been charged, or indeed named as a suspect in the case.

Failed lawsuits

Mr Bernad and his Clean Hands organisation, have previously presented a numerous lawsuits against politicians for corruption, and it has to be pointed out that in the vast majority of cases they have failed to gain embellishment.

These unsuccessful suits have included ones brought against a judge who was seeking to investigate human rights crimes during the Spanish dictatorship and against children’s TV programme Los Lunnis for allegedly violating the honour of minors by depicting two puppets of the same sex getting married. They also failed to have King Felipe’s sister, Princess Cristina, convicted for tax-related crimes.

Remaining dignified

During a parliamentary debate, Mr Sánchez made just a fleeting reference to the developing story about his wife, saying only that “despite everything, I still believe in my country’s justice system.”

His allies also sprung to his defence by casting further doubts on Mr Bernad, painting the proceedings as simply another part of continuing efforts by the opposition to weaken the coalition government.

Justice minister Félix Bolaños described it as “yet another false claim”, whilst Deputy PM, María José Montero, said the government would not allow these “Trumpian practices to undermine democracy in Spain, which has been built with so much effort.”