The head of the 41st Investigative Court of Madrid, Juan Carlos Peinado, who is leading the investigation against Begoña Gómez, heard this Friday four witnesses from the Complutense University of Madrid proposed by the President of the Government’s own wife to defend that she signed the contract documents for the software and registered the domain of the chair that he co-directed by orders of the study center. The auditor of the Complutense, María Elvira Gutiérrez Vierna, has ruled out that she acted irregularly when signing these types of documents despite not being university personnel, according to sources present in the statement.
Of the five crimes for which Pedro Sánchez’s wife is being investigated, this Friday’s statements served to delve into that of misappropriation – for, presumably, having been co-directed by her and not that of the Complutense – and intrusion for having signed the technical contracting documents for sponsors of the studies.
A year ago, Gómez’s lawyer, former socialist minister Antonio Camacho, unsuccessfully asked Peinado to agree to said testimonies and, finally, last October the Provincial Court of Madrid agreed with Gómez and ordered the judge to rule “without delay” on the origin or not of the aforementioned statements.
In this morning’s session, the Complutense auditor defended the legality of Gómez signing the tender document for the software. María Elvira Gutiérrez has confirmed that no specific technical qualification is required to sign this type of document, but rather “follow administrative traceability,” according to sources present in the statement.
For their part, María Jesús Morillo and Mercedes Vaquero, from the Office of Transfer of Research Results (OTRI) of the University, have stated that the center does not manage Internet domains like the one that Begoña Gómez wanted to register. The wife of the President of the Executive has always defended that if she registered the software in his name it was because it was indicated so in Complutense itself. Finally, the other co-director of the Master’s Degree in Competitive Social Transformation along with Begoña Gómez, Zulema Escalante, has recognized that she herself appears as the owner of the domain.
María Jesús Morillo has also indicated that her “interlocutor” at the university for the master’s degree was the advisor of La Moncloa, Cristina Álvarez, who is also accused in the case. Álvarez and Gómez are being investigated for a crime of embezzlement of public funds. The judge suspects that the president’s wife used the assistant for her private activities at the university.
has warned the Presidency of the Government to send the documentation it has requested about Sánchez’s wife and his assistant Cristina Álvarez, who is also accused. The magistrate says that the Government may “incur a crime of disobedience” if it does not present the agendas and data on Álvarez’s travels.
Peesido readmits Manos Limpes in the case
Manos Libre will once again be an accusation in the case against the wife of the President of the Government. In a ruling from this Thursday to which EL PAÍS has had access, Judge Peinado reinstates the pseudo-union, whose complaint gave rise to the process against Gómez, after verifying that he has paid the bail. His non-payment was the reason, detailed sources familiar with the case, for Peinado to expel the organization led by Miguel Bernad last Monday.
In the same ruling this Thursday, Peinado gives an account of the new lawyer who will defend the pseudo-union, Antonio Lechuga, who belongs to Soriano i Piqueras, the same law firm that defended Manos Cleans in the case against the State Attorney General. Lechuga takes the baton from Carlos Perales, who resigned considering that the case had become “a political and media controversy.”
Manos Libres thus once again joins the accusation along with the Vox and Iustitia Europa parties, the ultra-Catholic association Hazte Oír, the Political Regeneration Movement of Spain and the lawyer Marco Antonio Caballero.
