A judge in Spain has ruled that the wife of socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez must stand trial on corruption charges and has banned her from leaving the country.
Begoña Gómez had previously been charged after a two-year investigation with embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings and misappropriation of funds.
Gómez, 55, denies any wrongdoing in the case, which was triggered by a complaint from the group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), a self-styled trade union with far-right links.
The judge in the case, Juan Carlos Peinado, ordered Gómez to surrender her passport, barred her from leaving Spain and required her to report to court twice a month, according to a court order released on Saturday. She will face trial by jury on an unspecified date.
Sánchez had repeatedly dismissed the case against his wife as a baseless and politically motivated smear. The prime minister, an outspoken leftist leader in Europe, has accused his political and media opponents of pursuing his family and has also openly questioned the impartiality of some members of the judiciary.
The Socialist party quickly reacted to the judge’s ruling, posting on X: “(Begoña) has been subjected to judicial and political persecution for two years. Today’s development is another step in that process.”
The case is one of a series of corruption investigations that have plagued Sánchez, who came to power in 2018 by promising to end the graft that had mired the ruling conservative People’s party (PP).
Now, several investigations into Sánchez’s family and former top political allies threaten to topple the government.
Sánchez has not been named in any of the cases but his brother, David, is accused of influence peddling while the former transport minister, José Luis Ábalos, is accused of taking kickbacks on public contracts. Both deny the accusations.
One of the most potentially damaging cases is against former socialist prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero – a titan of the Spanish left – who was placed under investigation last month for alleged influence peddling.
Zapatero, who served as prime minister from 2004 to 2011, defended his innocence during hearings this week.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
