A judge rejects Vox’s complaint against Begoña Gómez for "influence peddling" at the Complutense

A Madrid judge has rejected the complaint filed by Vox against Begoña Gómez for alleged influence peddling in the creation and development of a chair at the Complutense University. The ruling by magistrate Coro Monreal concludes that the wife of the President of the Government could not have exercised “any influence” on the official who issued the resolution referred to in the complaint and neither on the contracting table.

This complaint, which is being processed in a court different from that of Judge Juan Carlos Peinadohas been rejected by the judge in a resolution which states that Begoña Gómez “can be presumed to have certain professional experience developed at the Complutense University of Madrid itself, even before her husband was president of the Government of the Nation, a family relationship which, by itself, would not justify the existence of prevalence according to the cited jurisprudence doctrine.”

The complaint filed by the far-right party referred to the creation and development of the chair that the wife of the President of the Government co-directs at the Complutense University of Madrid, and which she allegedly used “for her personal purposes, through the company Transforma TSC”. Vox pointed to the use of public funds for the development of a management and impact measurement platform for small and medium-sized businesses at the UCM, which Gómez would later have used for a company for the aforementioned TSC, a company in her name.

The judge of the 34th Court of Instruction, where the complaint was filed, concludes that “it is not apparent from the contracting file that the contract was developed outside the rules that regulate public sector contracting.”

Vox’s complaint recounted how in July 2023 the Complutense University initiated a contracting process for the development of software that would be used in the extraordinary chair co-directed by Begoña Gómez. The contract amount was 60,000 euros plus 12,000 VAT. Vox added that the tendering process bears Gómez’s signature “despite not having the necessary technical qualifications.” The contract was awarded to Deloitte Consulting SLU.

“A few months later, in October 2022,” Vox reported, “the defendant submitted a formal application to the Patent Office, which is part of the Ministry of Industry, to register the software under the same name as her company, which was formalized in April 2023.”

Judge Monreal points out that Vox is confusing dates and placing the processing of the file in August 2023 and not in July. The judge assures that there is no indication in the complaint’s account of any influence that it could have had on the university’s vice-manager, who decided to approve the start of the processing of the contracting file, “or on the members of the contracting committee” despite the fact that the defendant had signed the technical specifications document.

Regarding Begoña Gómez’s alleged lack of qualifications, the judge recalls in her order to file the case that the defendant began her relationship with the Complutense as co-director of continuing education studies for fundraising technicians during the 2012/2013 and 2013/14 academic years, that is, six years before Pedro Sánchez became President of the Government.

Furthermore, Begoña Gómez “is co-director of a master’s program at the same university, which is celebrating its 11th edition, outside of the contentious master’s program, and it is presumed that she has some professional experience developed at the UCM itself, even before her husband was President of the Government of the Nation, a family relationship that, by itself, would not justify the existence of prevalence according to the cited jurisprudence doctrine.”

The University is aware of the registration

In July, the Complutense University joined the confusion generated by the software of Gómez’s chair. El Mundo published a letter from the university to the magistrate in which, among other things, it accused the president’s wife of hiding the registration of the software of the extraordinary chair that she directed and that she put in the name of a company that Begoña Gómez owns 100%.

However, an email sent by an official at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) to Begoña Gómez and two other people shows how the Patents and Trademarks Section of the educational centre was aware of the registration by the wife of the President of the Government of the trademark for the software with which she was committed to providing the extraordinary chair she directed. “We are sending you a link on how to register a domain,” says the official in that message to Gómez, to which elDiario.es has had access. Gómez’s defence has alleged that Gómez never appropriated the software but merely registered the trademark.