MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will testify on July 30 in a preliminary corruption inquiry into his wife Begona Gomez’s business ties, a Madrid court said on Monday, an issue that caused him to consider resigning three months ago.

The investigation over alleged corruption and influence peddling has infuriated Sanchez, who has characterised the allegations as an effort to undermine him and his left-wing government.

Judge Juan Carlos Peinado will hear Sanchez as a “witness” at his official residence at 11am on July 30, a court statement said. He will be questioned over suspected influence peddling by his wife, the court said.

Santiago Abascal, the leader of the far-right Vox party, added: “We have always said that we will use all the means at our disposal to end the most corrupt government in history”. The Socialist party’s spokesperson to the Congress of Deputies, Patxi Lopez, was quick to speak out against Sanchez’s hearing and said the case against his wife was unfounded and “unacceptable political persecution”.

“Today and more than ever, the socialists are all behind Pedro Sanchez”, said Lopez, adding that the case had evidently been “entirely fabricated, it is a fabrication of the far right and the right against the head of government”. “Sanchez has given no explanations to parliament or to the media: he has to do so before a judge,” said Borja Semper, spokesman for the main opposition People’s Party.

“Nobody is above the law, not the prime minister or his entourage, all politicians should understand this,” Semper added. The head of the People’s Party, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, called once again on Sanchez to resign: “What an image for the country when a prime minister goes before a judge to talk about his wife’s alleged corruption!” Gomez on Friday invoked her right to remain silent under questioning by a judge.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2024