Begoña Gómez seeks acquittal and denies four charges ahead of jury trial
The defence of the wife of President Sánchez requests a dismissal verdict and claims her connection with the UCM predates his entry into public office.
Begoña Gómez's defence demands acquittal and accuses popular accusers of acting in bad faith
Begoña Gómez's defence submitted its written conclusions on Monday in the case that could lead to a jury trial. According to El País, the lawyer for the wife of the President of the Government, former Socialist minister Antonio Camacho, requests that an "acquittal sentence with all favourable determinations" be handed down and states that "the facts presented do not constitute any criminal offence".
The popular accusations, headed by Hazte Oír, seek 24 years in prison for Gómez for the offences of abuse of influence, corruption in business, improper appropriation of a brand and misappropriation of public funds. The defence rejects each of these charges and maintains that the conduct attributed to her client "does not meet the objective or subjective elements required by any of the criminal provisions cited".
A process that begins in 2024 following a complaint from Manos Limpias
Judge Juan Carlos Peinado opened the investigation in April 2024 following a complaint filed by the organisation Manos Limpias. The instruction, which lasted two years and generated intense controversy, examined Gómez's professional activity with businessmen and her relationship with the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), including the development of software for that institution.
Based on these facts, the investigating judge found indications of abuse of influence, corruption in business and improper appropriation of a brand. He subsequently broadened the investigation to determine whether there was a diversion of public funds when hiring Cristina Álvarez as an adviser — who has also been sent to trial alongside Gómez and businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés — so that she would collaborate in the wife of the president's private activity rather than in her institutional duties. This hypothesis underlies the charge of misappropriation of public funds.
The defence proposes its own account of the facts
Over 23 pages, Camacho constructs an "alternative factual account" to that of the accusations. In it he emphasises that Begoña Gómez began her collaboration with the Complutense in 2012, "at a time when her spouse held no political responsibility whatsoever". According to the defence, this academic work was carried out in parallel to her professional activity at the company Inmark, which she left in 2018, when Pedro Sánchez took office at La Moncloa, in order to "avoid any conflict of interest".
Regarding the Extraordinary Chair for Competitive Social Transformation (TSC), the document clarifies that Gómez assumed its co-direction in October 2020, "following an express offer from the UCM itself", in light of her previous experience in co-directing two master's programmes at the same university. The defence notes that the Complutense's extraordinary chairs operate outside the structure funded by public money, do not entail financial remuneration for those who direct them and do not require advanced university qualifications. With this, she denies having profited from that institutional relationship.
The appointment was formalised in October 2020 following a meeting held in July of that year at La Moncloa — "which since 2018 has constituted Gómez's family residence" — and was materialised with the signing of the corresponding agreement. The defence insists that the term "Competitive Social Transformation" was "personally chosen" by Begoña Gómez, whom she thus proposed to the university.
Requests that popular accusations be condemned in costs
Alongside the petition for acquittal, Camacho demands that the popular accusations be condemned in costs for having acted "with recklessness and bad faith". In the defence's view, Hazte Oír and the other accusations have acted "with aims distinct from the legitimate prosecution of crime, instrumentalising the criminal process as a mechanism for applying pressure and generating reputational damage" with the aim of creating "a climate of generalised suspicion" about Gómez.
More than twenty witnesses proposed, including one the judge rejected
Despite maintaining that the facts do not constitute a criminal offence, the defence proposes more than twenty witnesses for the eventual trial. Among them are officials from the UCM such as rector Joaquín Goyache, businessmen such as Rosauro Varo and Miguel Escassi, the defendants themselves and agents from the Central Operations Unit (UCO) of the Guardia Civil who drafted key reports in the case.
The defence further demands that at the preliminary hearing, José Manuel Ruano, a professor at the UCM and co-director of the Extraordinary Chair for Competitive Social Transformation, be called to testify, a measure which Peinado has rejected on repeated occasions. Camacho describes it as "surprising" that "dozens of witnesses, even some several times", have been heard while the judge has denied testimony from "the only person, alongside my client, who directed the aforementioned extraordinary chair".
The jury trial, which will also judge Cristina Álvarez and Juan Carlos Barrabés, will take place once the conclusions phase of accusations and defences is completed.
Source: El País