Pedro Sánchez defends the complaint against Judge Peinado: “The Bar Association has seen that rights have been violated”

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has spoken out this Wednesday on the complaint that the State Attorney’s Office has filed on his behalf against Judge Juan Carlos Peinado for prevarication. “The Attorney’s Office is defending the institution of the Presidency of the Government because it has seen that rights that have been included in the law since 1886 have been trampled on,” said the head of the Executive in a public appearance before journalists to take stock of the political course. Sánchez has described the judicial investigation of Peinado as a “non-case” and has assured that “time will put things in their place.” The socialist leader has defined his appearance on Tuesday before the magistrate as “a set-up” and added: “I found it absolutely pathetic and shameful to see the far-right associations fighting over who would enter La Moncloa.”

Sánchez has preferred to wait 24 hours before making a public statement on the complaint. On Tuesday afternoon, after meeting with King Felipe VI at the Almudaina palace in Palma, the president chose to avoid the subject: “After a meeting with the head of state, I should not, nor do I want to, nor can I refer to it,” he said. This Wednesday he was unable to do so in the meeting he held with journalists at La Moncloa, although he did not elaborate much on the issue either.

When asked by a journalist whether she considered that Judge Peinado had launched a campaign of “lawfare” (legal war) against the Executive, Sánchez has linked the investigation opened against his wife, Begoña Gómez — accused of influence peddling and corruption in business — with the “failure of the political project” of the opposition. “We have a Government that governs and an opposition that fabricates,” the socialist has insisted, who has hammered home: “What is it about the opposition? Instead of talking about economic growth, it talks about a non-case. Instead of talking about social progress, it identifies migration with crime. And instead of contributing and lending a hand to resolve the institutional crisis derived from the conflict in Catalonia, it calls everything a coup d’état.”

“The State Attorney’s Office has defended the institution of the Presidency of the Government of Spain because it has seen that rights that have been recognized in the institution of the Presidency since 1886 have been violated. I repeat, not 2006; not 1996; not 1906; [sino] “since 1986,” Sánchez stressed: “The dignity of the institution is being defended, the separation of powers is being demanded. And I have to convey two things to the public: that time will put things in their place and that this Government is focused on what is important.”

Among other arguments, according to the complaint, the Executive insists that the magistrate issued an “unfair” and “knowingly” resolution with the summons to Sánchez when he prevented her from testifying in writing, as the law allows for 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 alleged that he wanted to ask her about issues that have nothing to do with her position, but with her status as Gómez’s husband, despite the fact that she is being investigated for “all the acts, conduct and behavior that she has carried out since her husband became president.”

Sánchez did not want to clarify some details that have emerged in the investigation opened against his wife. “Were you aware of your wife’s meetings at La Moncloa? Did you participate in any? Were you aware of the letters of interest?”, a journalist asked him. The president answered thus: “I have given sufficient explanations in the Congress of Deputies. It is a non-case that comes from the frustration and impotence of an opposition that has given up on the battle of ideas.”