The Complutense demands 113,509 euros from Begoña Gómez and her advisor if they are convicted

The Complutense University of Madrid has set at 113,509.32 euros the compensation it demands from Begoña Gómez and her advisor at La Moncloa, Cristina Álvarez, if they are finally convicted of embezzlement. The institution has presented its request within the procedure that must go before a popular jury for the activities carried out around the Extraordinary Chair of Competitive Social Transformation.

The University is a party as an injured party and limits its intervention to exercising civil action, without formulating a request for a criminal conviction against the wife of the President of the Government or against Álvarez. The payment is subject to the outcome of the trial and would have to be assumed jointly by both in the event of a guilty verdict.

The amount includes the money allocated to the development of the chair's 'software' and the cost of university staff who participated in the project. The Complutense maintains that the platform was created with resources linked to the institution and that it would later have been outside its control.

The University wants to recover the platform

The economic claim constitutes only a part of the request. The Complutense also demands that the ownership and full availability of the computer program be restored to it, along with the domains, accesses, credentials, files, source codes, trademarks and exploitation rights linked to the tool.

The center considers that the 'software' was part of its assets because it was developed within the chair and with contributions intended for a university activity. The participation of private companies in the financing of the project does not modify this consideration, according to the provisional conclusions brief presented by its legal services.

The University mentions among the evidence examined the registration of the 'TSC' trademark, the transfer of the 'transformatsc.org' domain and the constitution in 2023 of 'Transforma TSC S.L.', a company managed by Begoña Gómez. Its brief argues that these actions could have transferred a university asset to a sphere of private disposition without the institution's authorization.

Regarding Cristina Álvarez, the Complutense assumes the criterion of the Provincial Court of Madrid and places her as a possible necessary cooperator. The University considers that her intervention in the procedures related to the computer program could have exceeded the assistance functions she performed from the Presidency of the Government.

The Prosecutor's Office maintains that no crime exists

The position of the Public Prosecutor's Office is at the opposite extreme. The Prosecutor's Office has communicated that it will not file an accusation and that it will present an acquittal, in coherence with the position maintained throughout the investigation.

The prosecutor already argued in his previous brief that Begoña Gómez did not receive any remuneration for directing the chair, that the computer program was never commercially exploited, and that the University did not suffer financial damage. His conclusion was that the investigated facts lacked criminal relevance and that there was no crime attributable to Gómez or Álvarez.

The new claim comes after the Provincial Court of Madrid reduced the procedure promoted by Judge Juan Carlos Peinado. The magistrates dismissed the crimes of business corruption and misappropriation, although they allowed the jury trial to continue for the alleged crimes of influence peddling and embezzlement.

The controversial judge Peinado has now granted Begoña Gómez and Cristina Álvarez five days to present their defense briefs. He has also given them three days to communicate whether they waive the preliminary hearing on the appropriateness of opening an oral trial. The Prosecutor's Office will wait to know the definitive requests of the popular accusation before formalizing its request for acquittal.