The wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been charged with corruption. Begoña Gómez is accused of bribery, embezzlement of public funds and misappropriation following a two-year investigation into multiple aspects of her professional life.
Judge Juan Carlos Peinado, who closed the probe on Monday, indicated that she influenced public sector institutions by leveraging her status as wife of Sánchez, who has been in power in Spain since 2018. Spain’s Left-wing government has dismissed the investigation as a politically motivated “fishing expedition”.
Gómez has denied any wrongdoing and can appeal to have the accusations dropped. The charges come at an embarrassing time for the prime minister. A week ago, his former transport minister went on trial, also for corruption. José Luis Ábalos is accused of receiving kickbacks on sales of PPE to government departments during the Covid-19 pandemic.
When Gómez was placed under investigation in April 2024, Sánchez took a five-day leave of absence from public duties to reflect on how to respond to what he called slurs from a “mud-flinging machine” which he says is made up of Right-wing media outlets and conservative members of the judiciary.
Sánchez elected to continue in power but has seen a series of corruption cases sprout up around family members and Socialist politicians. His wife’s case centres on allegations that she used her position to secure a post in charge of Master’s degrees in business studies at Madrid’s Complutense University.