Madrid judge orders Begoña Gómez to stand trial in corruption case

A Madrid investigating judge has ordered Begoña Gómez to stand trial, tightening a case that has become a test of how Spain’s courts handle a probe touching the prime minister’s inner circle. Juan Carlos Peinado barred the wife of Pedro Sánchez from leaving Spain, ordered her to surrender her passport and required her to appear before court twice a month while the case moves ahead. The ruling raises the stakes well beyond a single corruption file, placing Spain’s judiciary and Sánchez’s governing legitimacy under fresh pressure.

Peinado said Gómez should face charges of embezzlement, corruption, misappropriation of funds and influence peddling over allegations that she helped favored companies win public contracts. The investigation has been running since April 2024 and centers on whether Gómez used her role as the prime minister’s wife for private benefit. It also links her to work around master’s programs and a special chair at the Complutense University of Madrid.

The judge’s latest decision followed a preliminary hearing in Madrid on June 9 and related court appearances on June 15, 2026. A trial date has not been set. The same case also involves Cristina Álvarez, an aide in the prime minister’s office, and businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés, both of whom have come under scrutiny as investigators examine who did what and whether public office was used to advance private or political interests.

The case was brought by far-right groups acting as popular prosecutors, including Vox and Haz Oír, and its origins have fed a broader fight over how Spain’s institutions are being used and challenged. Sánchez has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing on his wife’s behalf, and Gómez has also denied misconduct. Still, the ruling immediately triggered opposition calls for political accountability and government resignation, a reminder that the legal case now sits squarely inside Spain’s partisan conflict.

Peinado has also drawn criticism for questioning whether the police escorts around Gómez could help her flee, a line of reasoning that Spanish police unions publicly described as excessive. That dispute has added another layer to an already volatile case, one that is now being read in Madrid not only as a corruption probe but as a stress test of judicial independence, institutional restraint and the durability of Sánchez’s minority coalition.