Spanish government goes after judge targeting Pedro Sánchez’s wife

{"text":[[{"start":9.05,"text":"The Spanish government has attacked the judge who ordered Pedro Sánchez’s wife to stand trial on corruption allegations, accusing him of issuing “incomprehensible” rulings."}],[{"start":19.15,"text":"Judge Juan Carlos Peinado, who has led a two-year criminal probe into Begoña Gómez, jolted Spanish politics at the weekend by sending her to trial over allegations that she exploited her relationship with the prime minister to further her university career. Gómez denies wrongdoing."}],[{"start":38.2,"text":"“I believe that Peinado has issued rulings that are incomprehensible and contrary to the law,” Spanish justice minister Félix Bolaños said on Monday. "}],[{"start":46.6,"text":"The decision to send Gómez to trial and order her to surrender her passport has intensified a corruption storm around Sánchez, whose brother David Sánchez is awaiting a court verdict after standing trial over allegations of influence-peddling. The brother denies the accusations."}],[{"start":63.55,"text":"Two of Sánchez’s former right-hand men are also facing corruption allegations. On Monday, Spain’s supreme court sentenced one of them, ex-transport minister José Luis Ábalos, to 24 years in prison for crimes including bribery and embezzlement related to the purchase of Covid-19 face masks. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":84.25,"text":"Sánchez’s government has distanced itself from Ábalos and never sought to defend him. But the justice minister insisted Gómez was innocent and told Cadena SER radio the case against her was “anomalous”."}],[{"start":97,"text":"“When there is a case involving rulings that depart from the law, it is the system itself that must overturn them,” Bolaños said."}],[{"start":105.6,"text":"Sánchez last year accused some judges of “playing politics”. Former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, a close ally and fellow Socialist, is also under investigation over corruption. Zapatero denies wrongdoing."}],[{"start":119.89999999999999,"text":"As an investigating judge, Peinado has pursued Gómez with determination. As he is approaching mandatory retirement in September, when he turns 72, he will have no further role if the case does go to trial."}],[{"start":133.6,"text":"Even as the government assailed him on Monday, Peinado informed Gómez that she must surrender her passport by Wednesday evening."}],[{"start":142.2,"text":"In 2024, Peinado took the unusual step of travelling to the Moncloa Palace, where Sánchez lives and works, to question him. The prime minister declined to answer, invoking his legal right not to testify against his wife.Gómez is accused of crimes including influence-peddling, embezzlement of public funds and private-sector corruption. The allegations relate to her activities at Madrid’s Complutense University, where she is accused of using personal connections and public resources — including an assistant on the state payroll — to advance her interests."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":177.2,"text":"The case originated from a complaint, based largely on press clippings, that was filed by a campaign group with far-right links. “There is an attempt to bring us down through false lawsuits filed by far-right activists,” said Bolaños, referring to the government."}],[{"start":191.54999999999998,"text":"The body that oversees Spain’s judges on Monday asked a disciplinary official to review Peinado’s order for Gómez to stand trial, citing comments he made about the police."}],[{"start":201.64999999999998,"text":"To justify the request for Gómez to surrender her passport, Peinado wrote that police officers responsible for her security “could, either on their own initiative or on the instructions of their superiors, assist in actions designed to facilitate her flight, thereby preventing the accused from being brought before justice”."}],[{"start":220.79999999999998,"text":"Spain’s general council of the judiciary, the body governing judges, asked one of its officials to investigate whether those statements “may constitute the serious disciplinary offence of disrespect” towards law enforcement."}],[{"start":234.29999999999998,"text":"Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Spain’s interior minister, alerted the judicial council to the statements on Saturday, calling them “a matter of the utmost gravity”."}],[{"start":243.14999999999998,"text":"Higher courts have struck down several of Peinado’s previous moves, including an attempt to subject Gómez to a trial by jury, which is unusual in Spain."}],[{"start":252.29999999999998,"text":"Madrid’s provincial court said Peinado’s demand for a jury trial suffered from a “lack of reasoning” and rebuked him for failing to make a “minimal effort to set out the grounds for his decisions”. "}],[{"start":262.9,"text":"Peinado, who was born in 1954, came late to the judiciary. In the 1980s he worked as a senior clerk in various local governments in small municipalities close to Madrid. He did not become a judge until 1994, entering via a route reserved for professionals with legal experience."}],[{"start":282.95,"text":"Sánchez’s allies point out that his daughter Patricia Peinado is a councillor for the People’s Party, Spain’s conservative opposition, in a municipality just outside Madrid."}],[{"start":300.8,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782183877_9644.mp3"}