The Complutense University finds no irregularities in Begoña Gómez’s teaching but asks the judge to continue investigating

The Complutense University of Madrid has contacted the judge investigating Begoña Gómez to insist on its intention, so far unsuccessful, to bring charges against the wife of the President of the Government. In a letter, the centre has sent a report to the magistrate Juan Carlos Peinado explaining that, after an internal investigation, it has not found any illegalities in the management of the chair headed by Gómez, but alleging that the businesswoman has not submitted the documentation that it requested and asking that the judge be the one to investigate. “The investigation activities do not allow us to reach a definitive conclusion regarding the existence, or not, of damage to her assets,” the Complutense recognises.

Initially, the complaint with which Manos Limpias took Begoña Gómez to court, citing various press clippings, did not include any suspicions about her work at the Complutense University. Only the fact that the businessman Carlos Barrabés, whose public contracts are being investigated, was part of the Competitive Social Transformation master’s degree.

Barrabés had already testified as a witness earlier this week, denying any irregularities in these public contracts and explaining that he had met several times in Moncloa with Gómez, also coinciding with Pedro Sánchez. In previous days, the rector of the University appeared, who also denied irregularities in the management of the wife of the President of the Government. In parallel, the UCM unsuccessfully asked Judge Peinado to be part of the accusation, something that the magistrate denied on June 20th as there was no record in the case of any damage to the center’s coffers.

The Complutense University’s response was a new letter addressed to the judge in which they ask him to investigate on his own and reconsider his decision not to accept the university as an accusation against Gómez. The 20-page document explains that for a month they have been investigating whether Gómez somehow put in his name or managed in an irregular manner a software developed for the chair he directed. The UCM explains that, on its own, it has not been able to find these illegalities, but asks the judge to be the one to investigate in order to overcome Gómez’s lack of collaboration, from whom they asked for all the documentation a month ago.

The internal investigation, she admits, “does not allow” reaching a “definitive conclusion”, attributing this absence of evidence to “the lack of collaboration of certain parties involved”. The document reveals that the UCM contacted Gómez on June 11 and that the wife of the President of the Government replied a day later, acknowledging receipt and stating that “I am gathering all the information/documentation that you request from me in each of your questions”. The document, signed 19 days later, claims that she has not received anything.

The document does include information that the Complutense University has received in recent weeks from the Intellectual Property Registry, according to which neither Begoña Gómez nor her company have registered this software in their name. Gómez is not the only person to whom the document was submitted that had not been sent: the same applies to Deloitte and José Manuel Ruano, co-director of the department, who reported that he did not have this documentation.

Begoña Gómez is scheduled to appear in the Plaza de Castilla courts in Madrid on Friday. The wife of the Prime Minister was already summoned a few days ago but the judge suspended her appearance after acknowledging that one of the complaints, the one filed by the ultra-Catholic association HazteOir, had not been notified to her and she did not know what she was being accused of.