Spain: Judge asks to bring prime minister's wife before jury for embezzlement

The judge investigating the Spanish prime minister's wife, Begoña Gómez, for embezzlement concluded his inquiries and asked to send her to trial before a jury, according to a court document accessed by AFP on Wednesday.

This decision can still be appealed and, therefore, is not final.

Judge Juan Carlos Peinado considers that an official hired by the prime minister worked for Begoña Gómez in a private capacity, which would constitute embezzlement of public funds.

In his order, the magistrate said that after his investigation he sees "verisimilitude of the facts," so "we could find ourselves before rational, founded and solid indications of the commission of criminal acts."

Therefore, Peinado closed the investigations and proposed that the case go to "trial before the Court of the Jury," according to the document.

In addition to the wife of socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Peinado points for embezzlement to the civil servant Cristina Álvarez and Francisco Martin Aguirre, who allegedly hired her when he worked for the prime minister and is now the delegate of the government in Madrid.

Peinado summoned Gómez, Álvarez and Aguirre on Saturday afternoon to inform them of this change in the process.

Appearing before the judge on Sept. 10, Gómez flatly denied any involvement in embezzlement, stating that in a "punctual" way she asked Álvarez to "send some messages," but insisted that the latter "never" helped her in her professional activities.

Apart from this case for embezzlement, the magistrate has also been investigating since April 2024 whether Gómez took advantage of her husband's position in her private business.

This case provoked a strong pulse between the prosecution, which asked to close it, and the judge; and irritated Pedro Sánchez, who kept the country in suspense for several days debating whether to resign, which in the end he did not do.