Begoña Gómez, wife of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has filed a complaint against the magistrate Juan Carlos Peinado, who has accused her of influence peddling and corruption in business. The wife of the head of the Executive accuses the judge of the crimes of prevarication and disclosure of actions declared secret. The document, to which EL PAÍS has had access, is addressed to the High Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM), which already has on the table the other complaint filed last Tuesday by the State Attorney’s Office on behalf of the president, this one only for prevarication.
Begoña Gómez’s defense, led by the lawyer Antonio Camacho, a former socialist minister, has decided to make a move this Friday, after the case against Sánchez’s wife closed this week with another round of interrogations without significant progress. Between Monday and Thursday, five people sat before the judge (two defendants and three witnesses, including the head of the Executive himself), but none of them revealed new clues. What’s more, the rector of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), Joaquín Goyache, and the businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés denied irregularities in their professional relationship with the main person named in said investigation.
The 53-page complaint signed by Gómez’s lawyer, dated this Friday, focuses first on the alleged crime of revealing secrets. The document recalls that the magistrate opened the case on April 16, when he admitted a complaint from the pseudo-union Manos Limpias – based on alleged press reports, which even included a hoax. From that same day, Peinado declared the summary secret, which he did not lift until May 24. However, according to the complaint, the judge “transferred” on May 17 to the far-right party Vox, which appeared as a popular accusation, some “statements and documents from a still secret case.” “And in the same way,” according to the lawyer Antonio Camacho, a resolution issued on May 23 reveals that “other proceedings, documents and testimonies were transferred to the popular accusations.” […]without at any time having agreed to a partial lifting of the [secreto] by any resolution.”
Throughout the document, Gómez’s defense also criticizes the fact that, during that period, the court used the TSJM press office to “leak” to the public the opening of the case and other decisions taken in the investigation, such as the summons of witnesses. Although, in the first case, the communications department reported the start of the investigation after the press had already published it – a practice that is not only common in this judicial body, but also in others such as the National Court, although the case has been declared secret.
“These resolutions of May 17 and 23, 2024 are manifestly arbitrary and unfair, and could in themselves constitute a crime of judicial prevarication,” the complaint adds when introducing the second crime attributed to the judge. Precisely, the State Attorney’s Office charged the magistrate with this same crime last Tuesday, for having prevented Sánchez from testifying in writing in the case opened against his wife, as the law allows members of the Government when they are going to appear in an investigation as witnesses for facts that they have learned about by reason of their position. To justify this, Peinado claimed that he wanted to ask him about issues that had nothing to do with his position, but with his status as a husband.
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Once it receives Gómez’s brief against Peinado, the TSJM will have to decide whether to admit it for processing, just as it has to do with the complaint from the President of the Government; and with another previous one that is pending resolution – this last one, presented by the journalist Máximo Pradera for revealing secrets. In addition, according to legal sources, even if the court agrees to open a case against the instructor, that does not imply that the magistrate is automatically removed from the investigations that it maintains open against Sánchez’s wife, but it could do so. motu proprio or, where appropriate, one of the parties could file a petition for disqualification against him.
“The revelation of the elements of the case declared secret has seriously harmed the rights [de Begoña Gómez]violating her right to defense from the beginning, in a case that she could not know in its entirety due to the declaration of secrecy – only allowing her to attend the testimonies through representation, but without knowing the reason for the accusations formally -, but of which information about a secret case was publicly disclosed, causing her serious harm to society. […] and subjecting her to the penalty of imprisonment as this situation is normally known,” concludes the complaint of the wife of the President of the Government.
“Media protagonism”
The complaint extends the alleged crime of prevarication committed by Peinado to more decisions taken by him within the case against Begoña Gómez. According to Camacho, the judge has “knowingly” promoted an “unusual, erratic and prospective” investigation, with which he seeks to maintain a “general case” against the wife of the head of the Executive, “which is expressly prohibited by our legal system.” The defense insists that he is carrying out a “perverse investigation.” “However, at this time we cannot determine whether these decisions have the premeditated purpose of seeking a political and social impact, or if they are simply due to an excessive desire for media attention.”
“He has knowingly issued decisions that are manifestly unfair, unjustified and without legal protection, violating procedural rules and causing serious harm,” the lawyer continues in his writing, adding: “He has bent the rules and adopted decisions that are unjustified, lacking any motivation and contradictory. Furthermore, given the urgency with which he has been agreeing to carry out investigative proceedings, the appeals filed by this party on countless occasions have been processed by the court once the proceedings had been carried out.”
More documentation
For his part, Judge Peinado is continuing with his investigation and, according to a resolution dated July 30, he has requested more documentation from several institutions. The magistrate has asked the Complutense University, where Begoña Gómez directed a chair, for “the founding agreements of all the extraordinary chairs created” and “the CVs of the directors and co-directors.” In turn, he has demanded that the Instituto de Empresa (IE) provide “the employment contract between IE Africa Center and the investigated party.” He has also informed the Fundación Deporte Joven to send him “the contracts made with Innova Next,” one of Barrabés’ companies.
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