The promoter of the disciplinary action in the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) – the one in charge of investigating complaints filed against judges and magistrates – has proposed to file, Félix Bolaños, against Juan Carlos Peinado, the judge investigating the wife of the President of the Government, for up to five crimes. The Permanent Commission, which will analyze the case this Tuesday, can reverse the situation but the last word will be the Disciplinary Commission, with a conservative majority.
Sources from the governing body of the judges consulted by EL PAÍS indicate that Ricardo Conde plans to file up to seven open information proceedings as a result of the complaints received against the head of the Court of Instruction Number 41 of Madrid. The one presented by Bolaños stands out for the interrogation as a witness to which he was subjected on April 16, 2025 in relation to the hiring of Cristina Álvarez as Gómez’s personal assistant in Moncloa. The minister disassociated himself from that contract and the judge reproached him for answering his questions “evasively,” warning him that he would be “forced” to agree to a confrontation to compare his answers. “I believe, your honor, that I am not answering with evasion in any case,” Bolaños replied. At one point, the magistrate even questioned the minister’s attitude in his testimony. “I don’t know why you smile,” he asked. “Your Honor, I find your interrogation very surprising, that’s why I smiled,” explained Bolaños, which led the man in the robe to tell him that perhaps it was because “he is not used to an interrogation.” “Of course not, of course,” the minister concluded. Peinado tried to accuse him of false testimony and embezzlement but. The promoter advises shelving this matter because he considers that both the summons and the questionnaire given to Bolaños fall within the competence of the instructor.
Conde makes the same proposal to archive Peinado for neglect of duties for not extending the investigations against a senior official of the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, within the legally established period. The case was opened in 2023 following a complaint by Podemos against the manager of the buses of the Madrid City Council, Alfonso Sánchez Vicente, for allegedly awarding a contract to OkDiario to organize a day on sustainable mobility. This error caused the case to be filed. In this matter, the promoter argues that the delay is not only attributable to the judge.
Recently, the CGPJ also opened. Cristina Álvarez denounced that a resolution, in which the instructor asked the Police for help after both refused to hand over their passports, was published in the press hours before it was notified to the parties. He argued, therefore, that the leak could only have come from the judge. The CGPJ has other matters related to Peinado on its hands, although sources from the Judiciary warn that many complaints are excessively “vague” ―a mere “toast to the Sun”―, so they are not expected to have disciplinary action.
The precedent of Velasco and Ruiz de Lara
The Permanent Commission, the executive body of the CGPJ, will study Conde’s proposals at its meeting this Tuesday, and may endorse the file or, on the contrary, order him to recommend a sanction. The latter occurred with the cases of Eloy Velasco, due to the so-called Law of only yes is yes, and Manuel Ruiz de Lara, and called his wife “Barbigoña.” The Permanent Commission rejected the file recommended by Conde for both cases, first entrusting him to continue investigating and, later, to open disciplinary proceedings. He did so with the casting vote of the president of the CGPJ and the Supreme Court, Isabel Perelló, who on that occasion aligned herself with the progressive bloc, breaking the four-way tie that existed with the conservative sector.
Despite this, when the files on Velasco and Ruiz de Lara reached the Disciplinary Commission, the conservative majority of this working group – four to three – prevailed and . The promoter followed the mandate of the Permanent Commission and advocated imposing a penalty of between 501 and 6,000 euros for “excess or abuse of authority, or serious lack of consideration with respect to citizens, institutions, secretaries, forensic doctors or the rest of the personnel at the service of the Administration of Justice, members of the public prosecutor’s office, lawyers and solicitors, social graduates and officials of the Judicial Police.” However, the four conservative members refused to punish these two judges. And the three progressive members protested through a private vote where they stated that they should have been fined 3,000 euros.
From the Judiciary they indicate that, facing the Permanent Commission this Tuesday, the three members of progressive sensitivity are committed to moving towards sanctioning the complaints registered by Bolaños and Más Madrid, while the four conservatives view favorably the file that Conde advocates. This situation will once again force Perelló to position himself, if he wants to avoid the file scenario. Sources indicate that the president also wanted to open a disciplinary file for these complaints but that she will try to find a consensus or, at least, Solomonic solution.
