Peinado makes a move after the Court overturned two of the crimes attributed to Begoña Gómez and requests new briefs from the parties

The judicial investigation into Begoña Gómez has entered a new phase after the Provincial Court of Madrid agreed to dismiss the alleged crimes of corruption in business and misappropriation initially attributed to her. Following that decision, the investigating judge of the case, Juan Carlos Peinado, has required the parties to adapt their writings to the new procedural situation for the upcoming jury trial.

According to a ruling accessed by Europa Press, the magistrate has transferred the Court's resolution and has urged the popular prosecution, led by Hazte Oír, the Public Prosecutor's Office, and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) to present new conclusions adjusted to the framework set by the Madrid court.

The Court not only eliminated two of the four crimes initially attributed to the wife of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, but also agreed to lift the precautionary measures against her and her advisor, Cristina Álvarez. However, it maintained the continuity of the procedure for alleged crimes of influence peddling and embezzlement of public funds, as well as the holding of a popular jury trial.

The separate piece of Juan Carlos Barrabés

In parallel, the judge has agreed to separate the situation of businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés from the main procedure. In his resolution, he orders "to continue the investigation within a new procedure," after the Madrid Court decided to exclude him from the future jury trial.

The court considered that the proceedings related to Barrabés must continue to be processed independently to clarify "the legality or illegality of the awards of public contracts," a matter that will continue to be the subject of judicial investigation.

In the order that redefined the case, the magistrates pointed out that "it seems perfectly plausible to maintain" that Gómez "achieved the influence deployed from her privileged position as the wife of the President of the Government, not only to achieve the concession of the professorship —from the UCM—, but to do so almost immediately and without verifying minimal control over the consistency of the proposed project."

Likewise, they noted that the direction of said professorship fell to her "despite not being possible, an irregularity that had to be resolved several months later, which entailed the exercise of her faculties with hardly any restrictions or efficient real control."

“The mere family relationship by marital bond with the highest authority of the Government of the nation, in certain contexts and circumstances, such as those analyzed here, can entail efficient moral pressure for the purpose of constituting the crime of influence peddling,” concluded the magistrates of the Provincial Court of Madrid.