MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against a judge who summoned him to testify in a probe into alleged influence-peddling by his wife, accusing him of violating the law.

The lawsuit filed by Spain’s state legal services argues the judge and others may have committed “criminal acts” in his summons by not allowing Sanchez to testify in writing as requested by the Socialist leader, according to the complaint. The lawsuit “is not a frontal attack on the judiciary”, the document said.

“On the contrary, it is an expression of confidence in the judiciary, which alone is capable of putting an end to an abuse, in this case a judicial abuse attributable to one of the more than 5,000 judges who exercise their functions in Spain.” Sanchez on Tuesday opted not to answer questions from judge Juan Carlos Peinado, who is heading the preliminary inquiry into his wife Begona Gomez’s business ties, at the premier’s official residence.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2024