Madrid, 24 April 2024 – Earthquake in Spain. The prime minister Pedro Sanchez announces that Monday will let you know if will he resign or not in an unusual letter to citizens, in which he spoke of the investigation involving his wife Begona Lopez, investigated for corruption and influence peddling. “I have to stop and think – he writes in the text published on social media – Is all this worth it? I don’t know.” The socialist prime minister, who has canceled all his commitments between now and April 29, continues: “I urgently need an answer to the question of whether I should continue to be head of government or resign from this high honor”. The prime minister announced this in a 4-page letter to citizens, published on your X account.
What happened
The preliminary investigation section number 4 of the Court of Madrid has opened a preliminary investigation against Begona Gomez, wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, to investigate the alleged cases relationships with some private companies recipients of public procurement and funds, on the basis of a complaint presented by the far-right trade union Manos Limpias. The investigation aims to ascertain whether an investigation file should be opened in the event of evidence of the crimes of abuse of privileged information and corruption, hypothesized in Manos Limpias’ complaint, according to judicial sources cited by El Confidencial. The complaint refers to alleged meetings held in 2020 by Begona Gomez with the managing director of Air Europe, the airline that received 475 million for the rescue by the Spanish State and the fact that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez participated in the session of the Council of Ministers which approved the financing decree. The State Office for Conflicts of Interest, activated by the opposition People’s Party, has already ruled on the facts in question, dismissing the PP’s complaint as it “without legal basis” and concluding that Prime Minister Sanchez did not have to abstain from the deliberation.
Sanchez: “I believe in justice”
“On a day like today and despite the news I heard, despite everything, I continue to believe in the justice of my country”. Thus Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez replied, during question time in the Chamber, to the spokesperson of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), Gabriel Rufian, who defined “a dirty war” the opening of a preliminary investigation into first lady Begona Gomez.
“A false complaint against Sanchez’s wife”
The investigation launched to verify suspicions about some of Begona Gomez’s activities started on the basis of a “false report, like others”: he supported it Felix Bolanos, Minister of the Presidency and Justice and considered one of the men closest to the Iberian leader, intercepted by reporters in Congress. The leader of the socialist group in this Chamber, Patxi Lopez, also expressed his opinion in this regard. “There is a strategy that leads to making accusations without data, without truthful information, without evidence, just to attack,” he said. “In this case, we are talking about one person defamed without reason. CThat’s not good,” he added. For his part, the People’s Party (opposition) instead asks Sanchez for public “clarifications” on the case.
