Judge Juan Carlos Peñado, who kept Begonia Gómez indicted for more than a year, warned the Presidency that if he did not send the documents he had requested regarding Pedro Sánchez’s wife and his assistant (such as their diaries and travel information), he might be “exposed to the crime of sedition.” The judge included this notice in a decision issued Wednesday to once again request from the executive branch the numerous papers and information he had requested through another letter dated 22 days earlier.
In the new decision issued on Wednesday, seen by El Pais, the judge addresses the government “to send the requested information” on November 4 “or to indicate the reasons why it has not been sent to them until today.” The teacher stresses, “Warning them that if they do not refer it or claim reasons that make it impossible to refer it, they may commit the crime of disobedience.”
A few days ago, Judge Peñado requested numerous and detailed information, such as “all information recorded regarding the appointment of assistants” to the spouses of the various heads of the executive branch; “The number of assistants assigned at one time to each spouse”; “Salary data updated to date”, “officially and fully supported”, with “full pay certificate” for Begonia Gomez collaborator, Cristina Alvarez, “approved for the entire fiscal year 2025”; and “Documents proving your managerial status (monthly payroll, attachments, social costs and any change in your service relationship) up to the date the actual discharge or termination occurs.”
To all this is added the following: “Investigative agendas of Begonia Gomez and Cristina Alvarez”; “All information (in a complete, duly documented and detailed manner) relating to Alvarez’s trips paid for from public funds, including commission orders, travel permits, invoices, settlements or proof of payment, as well as the identification of the destinations of all trips, excursions and service assignments; as well as the payment of daily subsistence allowance, representation expenses, supplies, advances (meals, transportation, etc.) or the use of public means (official vehicle, chauffeur service, data of potential persons) is hierarchically dependent on Alvarez.”
“And all of this,” the judge points out, in the period “since his appointment on July 16, 2018, to the present date.”
The coach is investigating whether Gomez’s assistant, Cristina Alvarez, helped her with her own activity at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). Peinado accuses them of alleged embezzlement, which they both deny.