The judge insists on investigating Begoña Gómez beyond the limits imposed by the Provincial Court

The judge investigating Begoña Gómez has explained in an order that he is investigating the wife of the President of the Government for all the events reported by Manos Limpias, except for the part requested by the European Prosecutor’s Office. In an order in which he responds to various requests for information from Gómez, Judge Juan Carlos Peinado explains that he is investigating “all the acts, conduct and behaviour that have been carried out by the person under investigation since her husband became President of the Government of Spain and which are contained in the initial complaint” by Manos Limpias. Some of these events, such as her involvement in the rescue of Air Europa, are based on “conjectures” by the pseudo-right union, as explained by the Provincial Court of Madrid.

In recent weeks, Gómez’s defence has written to Judge Peinado several times to ask the magistrate to specify what specific facts he is investigating in the proceedings that have been ongoing for months. Above all, the lawyer of the wife of the President of the Government analysed, after the Madrid Court had described as “conjectures” the accusations of Manos Limpias regarding its involvement in the rescue of Air Europa and the European Prosecutor’s Office had taken part of the investigation related to contracts that Carlos Barrabés’ UTE received from the public company Red.es.

Judge Peinado’s response is to explain that he is still investigating everything except what is already in the hands of the European Prosecutor’s Office. “All acts, conduct and behaviour” since Pedro Sánchez became President of the Government in 2018 and which were reported by Manos Limpias, he adds. Among others, the rescue of hundreds of millions of euros from Air Europa, the possible irregularity of which was ruled out by the Provincial Court.

The magistrate of the 41st court of Madrid answers Gómez three days before she goes to the Plaza de Castilla in Madrid to testify as a defendant in the procedure. The judge also explains that a month ago he admitted the complaint of the ultra-right association HazteOir and that there are still contracts awarded to the UTE of Carlos Barrabés that are subject to investigation: “Not all of these contracts have been financed with European funds,” he explains in capital letters.

In fact, the judge issued a ruling last week in which he announced that he would take Barrabés’ statement, as a witness despite the incriminating nature of the magistrate’s statements, and by videoconference, due to the serious illness he suffers from. He has also called the rector of the Complutense, Joaquín Goyache, as a witness.

Peinado also specifies in his order on Tuesday that his investigation is directed at the facts about which he questioned two journalists in the first testimonies of the case: Ignacio Cardero (El Confidencial) and Francisco Mercado (EsDiario). Interrogations in which both defended the veracity of all their information and in which they also recognized that they did not detect any illegality, for example, in Gómez signing recommendation letters for the UTE of Carlos Barrabés as did institutions such as the Madrid City Council.