Begoña Gómez Requests Acquittal in Influence Peddling and Embezzlement Case

Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has submitted a legal defense requesting her full acquittal in a case involving allegations of influence peddling and embezzlement. The defense, filed by lawyer Jaime Campaner, denies that Gómez used her matrimonial link to the Prime Minister to secure the creation of an extraordinary chair at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) or that she obtained any economic benefit from the position. The popular accusation led by HazteOír is seeking a total prison sentence of 13 years based on three claims: influence peddling to create and co-direct the chair, embezzlement for using a government assistant for professional tasks, and the appropriation of software developed within the chair. Regarding the software and the associated trademark, the defense argues that the registration in Gómez's name was a provisional measure to establish an initial identity until the project could be registered to the university. The defense further states that the UCM suffered no financial loss and that the university's domain was transferred to Gómez for maintenance after the chair's coordinator left her post. Additionally, the defense contends that the assistance provided by Cristina Álvarez, a staff member at La Moncloa, falls within the customary support roles provided to the spouses of Spanish presidents since the transition to democracy. While the center-right framing emphasizes the denial of taking advantage of her matrimonial link, the center-left framing highlights the specific legal arguments regarding the functional and provisional nature of the software registration.