MADRID – Begoña Gómez, wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has been charged with alleged embezzlement linked to the hiring of her university advisor, who is also under investigation.
Spanish Judge Juan Carlos Peinado is probing Gómez for possible influence peddling, business corruption, trademark misappropriation and intrusion during her time as co-director of two master’s degrees and a special chair at Madrid’s Complutense University, Euractiv’s partner Servimedia reported.
The case comes as the Sánchez administration, as well as Sánchez himself through his entourage, is currently under fire for several corruption scandals.
Spanish media reports that Álvarez spent part of her publicly funded job helping Gómez with university work and activities involving private companies. The investigation centers on whether Álvarez “overstepped her authority by misappropriating public resources for private or strictly personal interests,” the Provincial Court of Madrid ruling reads.
Álvarez was hired in 2018, when Félix Bolaños – now justice minister and Sánchez’s key ally – was Secretary General of the Presidency, the office responsible for her appointment. Last June, the judge sought to charge Bolaños with embezzlement and perjury, but the Supreme Court rejected the request.
The case has sparked political controversy in Madrid.
Digital Transformation Minister Óscar López told public broadcaster RNE he was “indignant” at what he called “prospective” investigations targeting Sánchez’s wife.
“Justice must be equal for all, and when it ceases to be fair, it is not justice,” López said, warning against probes launched “for being who you are.”
By contrast, the opposition centre-right People’s Party urged respect for the judicial process. “We understand that Judge Peinado knows why he is charging them with embezzlement, that he is not doing so just for the sake of it,” spokesperson Ester Muñoz said on Antena 3.
Gómez and her advisor Álvarez have been summoned to testify in September.
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