(Madrid) The judicial noose is tightening on Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, summoned to appear in early July as a suspect in an investigation targeting her for corruption and influence peddling.

For her husband, it is just a “crude trap”. “’We are both perfectly quiet. There is nothing behind these accusations,” he said on X, accusing the conservative opposition of using this affair to “try to influence” the European elections this weekend.

At the center of all opposition attacks for weeks, this affair poisons the life of the socialist leader, who created a surprise at the end of April, after the announcement of the opening of the investigation, by claiming to consider resigning and by suspending his activities for five days before finally remaining at his post.

It took on even greater importance on Tuesday with the announcement by the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) of Madrid of the summons of Begoña Gómez by the investigating judge in charge of the case.  

In a three-line statement, the TSJ of Madrid indicated that she would be questioned “as a suspect” on July 5 at 10 a.m. in relation to “alleged crimes of corruption in the private sector and influence peddling.” .

Questioned after the council of ministers, the government spokesperson, Pilar Alegria, affirmed that there was “nothing of nothing” in the file and denounced “the lies and disinformation” which led to the the opening of this investigation, of which the right and the extreme right are, according to her, at the origin.

She also highlighted the “strangeness” of the timing of this announcement, a few days before the European elections, suggesting that the magistrate had political ulterior motives.

The right-wing opposition, for its part, applauded this decision and called on the prime minister to resign.

Pedro Sánchez must “assume his responsibilities immediately” and “communicate his decision to the country”, launched the leader of the Popular Party (PP, conservative right), Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

“Any president (of the government) with a minimum of dignity would have resigned today,” added the party’s spokesman, Borja Semper, to the press.

The announcement from the TSJ of Madrid follows the rejection, on May 29, of the prosecutor’s request to dismiss the investigation targeting the prime minister’s wife.

A Madrid court then deemed “unusual” the desire of the prosecution “to prevent any investigation” and ruled that “the indications concerning the alleged commission of an offense” were “sufficient” to justify the continuation of the preliminary investigation.  

These clues are “more than simple suspicions,” he insisted, making Begoña Gómez’s summons inevitable.

The investigation was opened on April 16 after a complaint from a collective close to the far right called “Manos limpias” (Clean Hands), which itself admitted that its approach was based solely on press articles.

In its decision of May 29, the court having rejected the prosecution’s appeal had limited the scope of the investigations to the support provided by Ms. Gómez, via letters of recommendation, to a contractor in the context of public calls for tenders of a amount of 10 million euros that he won.

The court, however, removed from the scope of the investigation the links established by Begoña Gómez with the CEO of the Spanish tourism group Globalia at the time when the latter was negotiating public aid in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic for his airline Air Europa.

It is only a “mere conjecture”, he said.

This court therefore refused to close the case, despite a report from the Civil Guard which concluded that there was no evidence.  

The accusations against Begoña Gómez were last month at the center of a diplomatic crisis with Argentina, after the ultraliberal Argentine President Javier Milei, visiting Madrid, relayed attacks by the Spanish right against the wife of Ms. . Sánchez, calling her “corrupt.”