A Spanish court has ordered Begona Gomez, the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, to face a jury trial on corruption charges. He has been banned from leaving the country and ordered to surrender his passport to the court.
A court order published on Saturday (June 20) revealed that Judge Juan Carlos Penado ordered Gomez to appear in court twice a month until a final verdict is reached. In addition, the country’s border posts and civil and military airports have issued necessary instructions for him to leave Spain. However, no date has been set for when the hearing will begin.
In April 2024, Begona Gómez was allegedly investigated by a far-right anti-corruption agency. He was later charged with embezzlement, influence peddling and irregularities in business dealings.
The indictment alleges that she abused her position as the prime minister’s wife and used public funds for personal gain in creating and managing special positions at Madrid’s Complutense University.
However, Pedro Sanchez and Begona Gomez have denied all the allegations from the beginning. The ruling Socialist Party has also campaigned for Gómez on social media, claiming he has suffered political and judicial harassment over the past two years.
Meanwhile, Sanchez’s family and former political associates have been named in multiple corruption allegations, including this case. Opposition parties demanded the prime minister’s resignation and early elections, but Sanchez rejected them. He alleged that right-wing parties were deliberately bringing forward the allegations to weaken the government.
In addition, several former top leaders of the Sanchez government and David Sanchez, the Prime Minister’s brother, are facing separate corruption charges and investigations. As a result, these cases have now become a major political challenge to the government, which came to power with an anti-corruption stance.