The lawyer representing Begoña Gómez, former Socialist Minister Antonio Camacho, has requested Judge Juan Carlos Peinado to postpone the scheduled questioning of the Prime Minister’s wife on 11 September and to set a new date, as she has another appointment in Arona (Tenerife) on that day.
This request is detailed in a document accessed by Europa Press, sent by the defence on 21 August to the presiding judge of the Instruction Court Number 41 in Madrid. This follows the judge’s decision to charge Gómez with alleged embezzlement related to the hiring of Cristina Álvarez as her personal advisor at Moncloa.
Camacho specifies, “This lawyer has a prior commitment, before the notice made by the aforementioned order of 18 August, to appear on 11 September before Instruction Court 1 in Arona.” Therefore, he requests that “the scheduled testimonial hearings for 11 September be suspended, and a new date be agreed upon for their conduct.”
Along with the petition, the defence has included the order issued by the Canary court, confirming that Camacho is summoned as a lawyer for proceedings taking place on 11 September at 10:30 hours.
On 18 August, Judge Peinado formally charged Gómez with embezzlement and summoned her to appear again following the Madrid Provincial Court’s directive, which urged a focus on the investigation and the establishment of potential liability indicators concerning the advisor—albeit ruling out embezzlement as one of the charges that could be brought against her.
Until now, the wife of Pedro Sánchez was under investigation for alleged crimes including influence peddling, business corruption, misappropriation of trademark, and illegal intrusiveness. These allegations stem from four lines of inquiry: Gómez’s purported influence-peddling on behalf of Barrabés; her management of the chair and two master’s programmes she co-directed at Complutense; the alleged misappropriation of software from that chair by Sánchez’s wife; and the appointment of Cristina Álvarez as Gómez’s advisor.
Peinado’s decision to charge Gómez with embezzlement marks a change of stance compared to last May when he charged the Government Delegate in Madrid, Francisco Martín Aguirre, with embezzlement for hiring the advisor during his time at Moncloa, while ruling out any investigation into Gómez and Álvarez for this crime, determining they bore no responsibility in the appointment.
Agencies EP
