A Spanish judge has opened a new line of investigation into Begoña Gómez, the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, over alleged fraud against European Union financial interests and the misuse of public office.
Juan Carlos Peinado, the investigating magistrate, has ordered a separate strand of the long-running case to scrutinise public contracts financed with EU money. He has asked prosecutors for a report on whether the conduct under examination amounts to a crime.
The new strand centres on contracts awarded by the State-owned body Red.es to companies tied to the businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés. Investigators would seek to establish whether there were irregularities in how the deals were granted.
Until now that part of the inquiry had been handled by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which spent close to two years examining whether Barrabés had received favourable treatment in the award of public contracts.
The matter returned to Peinado after Spain’s Audiencia Nacional, a senior court, upheld an appeal, revoked the EPPO’s decision to take over the case and ordered it sent back to his court.
Gómez is accused of signing recommendation letters for firms that later competed for, and won, publicly funded contracts. She has denied wrongdoing throughout.
Moncloa, the seat of the Spanish Government, moved quickly to dismiss the latest step as absurd, with sources insisting Gómez had no connection to the contract in question.
The fresh inquiry runs separately from the main case, in which Gómez, Barrabés and a presidential adviser, Cristina Álvarez, are under investigation over four alleged offences. Peinado has closed that strand and proposed sending the three before a jury.
Gómez and Álvarez are awaiting a ruling on precautionary measures sought by a private prosecution, which has requested the surrender of their passports, a ban on leaving Spain and fortnightly court appearances.
The Gómez investigation began with a complaint from a right-wing pressure group. It has become a recurring flashpoint between Sánchez’ minority left-wing administration and an opposition that has repeatedly demanded his resignation.
