Overview
- A judge ordered Begoña Gómez to stand trial and barred her from leaving Spain after a two-year probe, requiring her to surrender her passport and report to court twice a month following Saturday’s ruling.
- Investigating judge Juan Carlos Peinado has charged Gómez with embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings and misappropriation of funds related to a university chair at the Complutense University of Madrid.
- Spain’s judicial watchdog opened disciplinary proceedings against Judge Peinado on Monday after he said Gómez’s police escort could help her flee, prompting a public rebuke from national police unions.
- Also on Monday the Supreme Court sentenced former transport minister José Luis Ábalos to 24 years in prison for bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling and membership of a criminal organisation in a scheme over pandemic-era contracts.
- The twin developments have intensified political pressure on Sánchez even though he has not been named in the cases, and he is set to address parliament on Wednesday to respond to the cascade of investigations and convictions.