The president of the Court of Instruction number 41, Juan Carlos Peinado, who is investigating Begoña Gómez, agreed to ask the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard if there are “new facts” regarding the rescue of Air Europa to expand the investigation in this direction, after receiving a new complaint from an individual highlighting the alleged involvement of the wife of the President of Government. The Madrid Provincial Court, however, has already closed this door in a resolution of November 13, alleging that Peinado had not justified an “expansion of the object” of the trial.
In a letter dated this Monday, to which EL PAÍS had access, Judge Peinado asks the Economic Crimes Section of the UCO to “indicate (…) whether, based on the information at its disposal, new facts have emerged concerning the rescue of Air Europa”. He says he is doing it to comply with the resolution of the Provincial Court of Madrid and taking into account a new writing from an individual who assures that the president’s wife allegedly hid funds linked to the rescue.
The truth is that the magistrates rectifying Judge Peinado canceled a few weeks ago the decision to ask the UCO to investigate how the financial aid of 475 million euros that the government had injected into the airline in 2020 had been falsified. “The contested resolution does not have the necessary motivation”, declared the Provincial Court, “to justify an expansion of the subject of the investigation”, in agreement with Begoña’s defense Gomez.
Since the spring of 2024, Judge Peinado has been leading a trial against the wife of the president of the government for crimes of influence peddling, commercial corruption, intrusion, embezzlement and embezzlement. In the spotlight is his working relationship with an advisor from La Moncloa, as well as his private activity for the Complutense University of Madrid, where he headed a chair.
The magistrate tried to expand the file by adding said ransom because he suspects that Gómez’s relationship with the former CEO of Globalia (the company’s parent company) Javier Hidalgo could have influenced this management. “The judge is looking for evidence that will allow him to open the investigation, what he intends to do is investigate the life of the subject to see if new crimes appear during the investigation and this is done with a resolution lacking motivation,” indicated Gómez’s lawyer, former minister Antonio Camacho.
It was not the first time that Article 23 of the Madrid Court thwarted the magistrate’s attempt to pursue his rescue. From the beginning, when he approved the analysis of the behavior of the wife of the President of the Government, he moved closer to the possibility that the investigation would also cover the case of Air Europa, as requested in the initial complaint by Manos Cleans, since it was mere conjecture and suspicion.
Now, the new 52-page complaint from an individual prompts Peinado to again ask the UCO to report. In this complaint, it is indicated that Begoña Gómez “alleged bank accounts and deposits” which “could be linked to his possible intervention in the rescue of Air Europa”. He talks about financial products in the Dominican Republic and operations that could “carry a risk of money laundering, therefore it would be appropriate and necessary to carry out a more in-depth judicial investigation.”
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