Following the announcement of the opening of a preliminary investigation into suspicions of influence peddling and corruption against his wife, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced on Wednesday, April 24, that he was suspending his activities. In a letter published in
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Pedro Sánchez, president of the Spanish Government, announced, in a letter published on Wednesday, April 24 in X, that he was “reflecting” on the possibility of resigning after the announcement of the opening of an investigation against his wife for influence peddling and corruption. Sánchez will answer this question before the press on Monday.
“I need to stop and think” to decide “if I should continue leading the Government or if I should renounce this honor,” he wrote, indicating that he was suspending his activities until then.
This preliminary investigation against Begoña Gómez was opened on April 16 following a complaint from the Manos Médicas association, a group considered close to the extreme right, the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid announced in a brief statement. The investigation is being carried out under summary secrecy, the court added.
In his letter, Pedro Sánchez denounced a complaint based on “non-existent” facts and a “harassment” campaign led by “ultraconservative” media and supported, according to him, by the right-wing and far-right opposition against his wife.
“I am not naive,” he said, “I am aware that they are suing Begoña, not because she has done anything illegal, because they know that is not true, but because she is my wife.”
According to the digital media El Confidencial, which reported the news, the investigation focuses especially on Begoña Gómez's links with the Spanish tourism group Globalia, owner of the airline Air Europa.at a time when it was holding talks with the Government to obtain aid in the face of the sharp drop in air traffic caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Begoña Gómez then directed IE Africa Center, a foundation linked to the Madrid business school IE University, a position she left in 2022.
Air Europa, rescued
According to El Confidencial, IE Africa Center had “signed a sponsorship agreement with Globalia in 2020” and Begoña Gómez attended “a private meeting with its CEO, Javier Hidalgo, at a time when Globalia was negotiating with the Government” of Pedro Sánchez its multimillion-dollar rescue plan.
This plan allowed Air Europa to receive 475 million euros in November 2020 from a 10 billion fund intended to support strategic companies in difficulty as a result of the health crisis.
The Spanish airline was the first to benefit from this fund. Dozens of others followed, including several of its competitors (Iberia, Vueling, Volotea…).
On Wednesday, the right-wing opposition calledthrough Ester Muñoz, member of the leadership of the Popular Party (PP, right), which the President of the Government “give explanations to the Spaniards”. “In the end everything will be known,” warned party spokesperson Borja Semper.
“Trumpist practices,” says the ruling party
Several of those close to the President of the Government came to the fore this Wednesday to accuse the right of manipulating Justice for political purposes.
The president of the Socialist Group in the Congress of Deputies, Patxi López, denounced “a strategy that consists of making accusations without any basis, without any truthful information, without any evidence, only to cause harm, only to discredit” and “defame.”
It is one more false complaint, and one begins to be fed up with this strategy by which they are going to make us live in a country where one has to prove one's innocence.
Accusations are made without true information, data or evidence, only to harm, dirty and defame. pic.twitter.com/leB6eTzcKx
— patxilopez (@patxilopez) April 24, 2024
The Popular Party is “using a false accusation from a far-right organization to defame and slander” the president of the Government, said the number two in the Government, María Jesús Montero. “We are not going to allow these Trumpist practices to undermine Spanish democracy”has added.
Clean Hands, a group founded in 1995, has filed several lawsuits in recent years and has acted as a civil party in several corruption cases. The group is considered close to the extreme right, among other things due to the personality of its founder, Miguel Bernad, former leader of the National Front party, dissolved in 1993.
Accused of participating in an extortion ring, Bernad was sentenced to four years in prison in July 2021, but was finally acquitted on appeal last month due to lack of evidence, according to the court.
Meanwhile, several leaders of the independence movement in Catalonia (northeast of Spain), which supported Sánchez's inauguration in 2023, showed their “empathy with the pain” of the president and encouraged him to “endure.”
Sánchez, who had planned to leave tomorrow for Catalonia, to accompany the socialist candidate at the opening of the campaign for the regional elections on May 12, canceled this trip, as well as his presence at other relevant events this week.
With information from AFP.
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