Simon Hunter
SPAIN’S Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez exercised his right to not testify before a judge today, as part of an ongoing judicial probe into allegations of corruption and influence peddling levelled against his wife, Begoña Gomez.
After the brief face-to-face with Judge Juan Carlos Peinado at La Moncloa prime ministerial palace on Tuesday morning, it emerged that Sanchez was filing a lawsuit against the magistrate via Spain’s State Attorney’s Office.
While Gomez has kept silent about the ongoing investigation into her activities, Sanchez has publicly stated on a number of occasions that she has done nothing wrong and has denounced the probe as an effort to undermine both him and his government, a coalition of the Socialist Party and leftist alliance Sumar.
What’s more, not only had Gomez’s defence lawyers appealed the judge’s decision to make Sanchez testify, but so had the public prosecutor.
Gomez has been accused of taking advantage of Sanchez’s role as prime minister to gain advantage within her professional career.
The allegations were first filed at the Madrid court in charge of the probe back in April by Manos Limpias, a union that has links to the far-right.
However, those allegations were based on newspaper clippings about Gomez, some of which have already been proven to be false.
Since then, the lawsuit has been joined by Hazte Oir (Make Yourself Heard), a Catholic association known for its anti-abortion campaigning.
On July 19, Gomez herself was called to testify by Judge Peinado, but she, like her husband, also opted to say nothing.
The judge is reportedly investigating Gomez’s dealings with businessman Juan Carlos Barrabes, who was at one time seeking public funding and received €23 million in public contracts.
After the judge came face-to-face with Sanchez today at La Moncloa, the latter filed the lawsuit against Peinado in ‘defence of the institution of the prime minister’s office’, government sources told Spanish daily El Pais.
“There are multiple elements that make it evident that the statement taken contravenes the rules that regulate it, stripping the person who holds the role of prime minister of one of the powers of the State of the guarantees offered by the Law of Criminal Procedure since 1882,” the 35-page lawsuit states.
The document also points out that Sanchez was not permitted to testify in writing, as is usual for members of the government.
The State Attorney also argued in the lawsuit that there is a contradiction in the actions of the judge, on the basis that he is trying to question Sanchez as Gomez’s husband, when she is being investigated for being the prime minister’s wife.
Today marked the first time that a Spanish prime minister has been called to testify in court since Mariano Rajoy, a former prime minister for the conservative Partido Popular (PP), was called as a witness in a corruption case related to his party back in 2017.
In April, when news of the lawsuit against Gomez broke, Sanchez took the unprecedented step of a five-day break from his official duties while he considered whether to continue as prime minister of Spain.
After this period he decided to continue, but pledged a crackdown on press outlets publishing what he called ‘unfounded’ attacks against his wife.
