Madrid, Apr 25 (EFE).- Prosecutors in Madrid on Thursday called for an alleged corruption inquiry into Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, to be dropped.
The complaint was filed with a Madrid court on Wednesday by Manos Limpia (‘Clean Hands’), a self-styled “union” that was founded by a lawyer and former politician with ties to the Spanish far-right, although it insists it is politically independent.
On Thursday, Manos Limpias admitted that the complaint was based on right-wing and far-right leaning news reports, the publishers of which would be responsible for the stories’ accuracy.
The complaint triggered Sánchez’s shock announcement on Wednesday evening that he was suspending his public duties until Apr. 29 to “stop and reflect” on whether he wanted to remain in office given the “scandalous” and “spurious” claims being made against his wife.
The Prosecutor’s Office appealed against the decision taken by the court that admitted the Manos Limpias complaint, requesting that the ruling be revoked and the case archived.
Prosecutors argue that there is no evidence of a crime that justifies the opening of criminal proceedings against Sánchez’s wife, sources familiar with the case told EFE.
The complaint by Manos Limpias accuses Begoña Gómez of abusing her position to recommend or endorse entrepreneurs for public tenders.
It also indicates that one of the business leaders who was awarded tenders of 10 million euros later organized a master’s degree directed by Sánchez’s wife at the Africa Center, of the Instituto de Empresa (‘Business Institute’) study center.
According to Manos Limpias, the Spanish airline Air Europa “agreed to pay 40,000 euros a year to the Africa Center of the accused” and that “the agreement between Globalia (which owns the airline) and the Instituto de Empresa included the delivery of 15,000 euros a year in first class flights for the accused and her team”.
In a press release on Thursday, the union’s general secretary and founder, Miguel Bernad, said that when he saw that the Public Prosecutor’s Office did not intend to take the case on as a matter of course, he decided to file a complaint so that a court “could verify the veracity of the allegations”.
He also insisted that he was exercising “a right and a duty as a citizen”, and that it is up to the judge to verify whether the news reports are true or not.
In the statement, Bernad says Sánchez’s letter on Wednesday night in which he labeled Manos Limpias as a “far-right-wing organization” and implied that they are part of “a right-wing campaign against him” was “false” and “unacceptable”.
Members of the left-wing coalition government and other left-wing political leaders have rallied round the prime minister.
The conservative opposition People’s Party and the far-right Vox, on the other hand, have accused the prime minister of “playing the victim”.
Sánchez has been accused by conservative and right-wing groups of undermining the Spanish state and rule of law by pardoning Catalan separatists who were charged with sedition over an independence referendum in 2017 in order to garner enough support to form the coalition government he leads.
His decision to step back from his public duties comes against the backdrop of a complex political scenario in Spain, two weeks before the Catalan regional elections and ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.
The Manos Limpias is a public sector employees’ “union” founded in 1995 by Miguel Bernad that has filed all kinds of complaints against what it considers to be political or economic corruption with harm to the general interest.
Bernad was recently acquitted by the Supreme Court after being convicted by the Spanish National High Court for extorting money from banks and companies.
The self-styled union put Infanta Cristina, sister of King Felipe VI, in the dock in 2016, in the trial against her then-husband, Iñaki Urdangarín, for two crimes against the Public Treasury, of which she was acquitted.
Manos Limpias was also involved in the indictment of Baltasar Garzón, a judge who investigated alleged crimes against humanity committed during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. EFE
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