Judge Juan Carlos Peinado, who is investigating Begoña Gómez, has called Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government, to testify as a witness on July 30. The magistrate joins the request of Vox and the rest of the popular accusations announced last week and explains that he will be the one to go to Moncloa to take her statement at 11 in the morning.
The Criminal Procedure Act allows the Prime Minister, among other authorities, to make a written statement before a judge when he has to explain facts that he has become aware of in the exercise of his office. In this document drawn up last Friday and signed this Monday, the judge applies a specific article to close that door and force his testimony to be given in person: he understands that these are not facts that he has become aware of through his work as head of the executive.
“It is considered appropriate, useful and pertinent to receive a statement from the husband of the person under investigation,” said the magistrate after explaining that he is investigating possible crimes of influence peddling, although without specifying what specific branch of the case. In another document released early Monday morning, Judge Peinado also considers Joaquín Goyache, rector of the Complutense University of Madrid, to be under investigation.
The magistrate of the 41st court of Madrid has been investigating the wife of the President of the Government and her professional activity for months after the far-right pseudo-union Manos Limpias filed a complaint based on press clippings, including a hoax about a false subsidy granted to Begoña Gómez. Since then, the magistrate has been exploring different avenues of investigation: from the rescue of more than 400 million euros to Air Europa to the public awards to the businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés, and in recent weeks, her activity in a chair at the Complutense University.
The Madrid Court of Appeals approved the investigation of public contracts awarded to Barrabés’ UTE, a matter that was largely handled by the European Prosecutor’s Office, but considered that all suspicions about alleged preferential treatment of Air Europa were based on “mere conjectures” in the Manos Limpias complaint. The investigations into the Complutense University were added later, mainly at the request of the ultra-Catholic group HazteOir.
So far, two reports from the Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard have ruled out any irregularities in the awards to Barrabés. The businessman himself appeared as a witness by videoconference to also deny illegalities and recently the judge has come to consider him under investigation. The same thing has happened with Goyache, rector of the Complutense University of Madrid where Gómez had a chair, although in this case the judge limits himself to explaining that he is now considered an accused and calls him to testify on July 29 in view of the statements of other witnesses linked to the center.
Meetings and gatherings in Moncloa
In recent weeks, several witnesses have explained to the judge that they met with Begoña Gómez in Moncloa. Goyache, as he himself explained, did so to discuss matters related to the chair that the wife of the President of the Government was going to set up. Barrabés, for his part, explained to the judge that he met several times with Gómez and that on two other occasions he met with Sánchez without actually having meetings with him.
Peinado’s ruling does not explain the specific reasons why he will travel to Moncloa to question the President of the Government as a witness. He explains that there is a type of influence peddling called “chain influence peddling” and that his objective is to investigate “the possible relationship of the person under investigation with an authority”, although he denies him the right to declare in writing, considering that the facts have nothing to do with his position.
The Criminal Procedure Act also allows a person not to testify “against” a direct relative, although “he can make the statements he considers appropriate.” The magistrate explains in his ruling how the logistics of the President of the Government’s testimony will be: one day before, the IT services of the Community of Madrid will go to Moncloa with agents of the Judicial Police to install “the necessary devices” to record the appearance.
Source: www.eldiario.es
