By TERESA MEDRANO
MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Tuesday chose not to testify before a judge who went to Madrid’s presidential complex for a scheduled interview as part of an investigation into corruption allegations against his wife, lawyers said.
Hours later, the government’s legal officers filed a complaint against the judge, Carlos Peinado, “in defense of the institution of the presidency,” government spokeswoman Pilar Alegría told reporters.
Sánchez, one of Europe’s longest serving socialist leaders, was not obliged to testify against his wife under Spanish law. The questioning lasted just minutes as the premier exercised his right not to testify, lawyers from both sides told reporters.
A legal activist group called Manos Limpias, or “Clean Hands,” has alleged that Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, used her position to influence business deals. Many of the group’s previous cases have been linked to right-wing causes targeting leftist politicians. Most of them never succeed.
Peinado, who refused Sánchez’s request to submit a written testimony, was the first judge ever to enter La Moncloa complex, the prime minister’s residence and office in Madrid, and take a statement from a sitting prime minister. A public prosecutor and a lawyer from the far-right Vox party joined the questioning.
“They have come to record a hoax with a clear objective, which is to erode the image of the president of the government on the basis of a no-case,” Alegría said, adding that the government is “confident and calm.”
Sánchez has called the case a “smear campaign” aimed at damaging the leftist coalition government led by his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party.
Spain’s Public Prosecutors’ office recommended the probe be thrown out, but a provincial court ruled that the lower-court judge could continue the investigation. Peinado will either throw out the allegations or recommend that the case go to trial.
After the probe was launched, Sánchez stunned the nation by saying in an April open letter published on social media that he would contemplate stepping down for what he called the “attack without precedent” against his wife. After five days of silence, Sánchez said he had decided to remain in office.
Earlier this year, Spain’s government watchdog on conflicts of interest tossed out a complaint made by the conservative Popular Party against Sánchez alleging that Gómez had influenced her husband in a decision related to an airline.
Gómez, 49, does not hold public office and maintains a low political profile. She studied marketing and has been involved with fundraising projects and non-governmental organizations.
