Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been subpoenaed to testify in the case against his wife Begonya Gomez for influence peddling and corruption, reported the Spanish news agency EFE, quoted by BTA.
According to the Supreme Court in Madrid, Sanchez will testify on July 30 at the "Moncloa" palace. – the official residence and workplace of the head of the Spanish government.
He will testify before judge Juan Carlos Peinado, who accepted calls to the prosecutor's office made by the far-right party “Vox” for the prime minister to testify.
Gomez exercised her right not to testify, citing insufficient guarantees in the legal proceedings, as her lawyer Antonio Camacho explained to the Madrid court after the hearing.
This prompted the prosecution to request testimony from the prime minister to shed light on what happened at the meetings held in “Moncloa” involving Gomez and businessmen such as Juan Carlos Barabes, who is also accused in the case.
The case brought by “Clean hands“ – posing as a trade union organization with links to the Spanish far right – is investigating whether Gomez used her position as the prime minister's wife in her relationship with Barabes – a teacher in the master's program she leads.
The hard-line Catholic association “Let us be heard“ also asked the court to investigate whether Gomez abused her position “to establish commercial and professional relationships with various companies and individuals” and whether she used her influence “to provide subsidies and public funds”.
The allegations, first made in April, led to Sanchez dramatically stepping down from his public duties for five days, during which he considered whether to resign over the “scandals” and “false“ accusations and the “smear campaign” against his wife, who denies having committed any violations.