Newly released documents confirm that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez knew that his spouse Begoña Gómez was being formally investigated in April, when he wrote to the nation announcing he could resign over the matter.
At the time, the Spanish press had broken the story that Gómez was being investigated on charges of corruption, specifically using her influence as the prime minister’s wife to obtain public funding for certain companies and people. Despite the press reports, Sánchez’s letter denied that his wife was formally under investigation.
On April 24, Sánchez wrote an open letter to the citizens of Spain explaining that he was taking five days off from his public appearances to consider whether he should continue at the helm of the country’s government, in light of the allegations.
After his five day reflection period—which gave his supporters time to stage a show of support for the premier—Sánchez, not surprisingly, announced that he had decided to stay in office.
A few weeks later, on May 20, part of the investigative report into Goméz was leaked to the left-wing newspaper El País, known for its pro-government bias, despite the judge having imposed a secrecy block on the documents. Just days before the leak, Sánchez was scheduled to appear in Congress for the usual questions to the prime minister. Here it was clear that he would be grilled by the opposition about the situation surrounding his wife. One leaked paragraph stated that the Civil Guard, the police force conducting the investigation, had found no evidence of the crime of influence peddling by Goméz.
One week later, the judge lifted the secrecy measure on the case, allowing all the reports and rulings to come to light through the press.
These documents include a letter from Goméz’s lawyer to the judge acknowledging his client’s situation. The full text of the police report also shows that investigators found no clear indication of influence peddling in some of the listed accusations in the complaint filed by Manos Limpias.
However, in other instances cited in the complaint they saw clear signs of possible crimes. The judge also reasoned that a full investigation may uncover more details of possible criminal activity concerning all the various situations detailed in the complaint. The decision to investigate has also been ratified by a second court.
On Wednesday in congress, Albert Nuñez Feijóo, leader of the center-right Partido Popular (PP), criticized Sánchez for lying to the public and called out the premier’s time of reflection as in reality “five days to organize your procedural and political strategy.”
On Sunday, the PP had organized a protest that brought 80,000 people to the streets of Madrid to demand that Sánchez call elections. Such calls are unlikely to die down anytime soon.
