MADRID, 24 April. - (ANA) - Spain’s prime minister has suspended his duties and announced he is considering resigning after a graft investigation was launched against his wife.

 

Pedro Sánchez, the head of the country’s Left-wing government, claims the accusations against his wife are a Right-wing plot to smear his reputation.

 

In a letter posted on social media, Mr Sánchez said that the opening of the preliminary judicial investigation has made him consider if staying in his role is “worth it”.

 

He said he was “cancelling his public appointments in order to reflect and decide which course to take” and would make an announcement on Monday.

 

A court in Madrid announced on Wednesday that it was opening proceedings to investigate whether Begona Gómez, Mr Sánchez’s wife, should go on trial for influence peddling and corruption.

 

The accusation against Ms Gómez was made by a Right-wing organisation called Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), which has frequently used the courts to attack public figures.

 

They have accused Ms Gómez, a business consultant, of adding her signature as a referee to applications by companies bidding for public contracts or funding schemes.

 

Manos Limpias said Ms Gómez used her influence as the wife of the prime minister to allegedly secure sponsors for a university master’s degree course that she ran.

 

Alberto Núnez  Feijóo, the leader of Spain’s opposition People’s Party (PP), reported Mr Sánchez to the state’s conflict of interest office, accusing the prime minister of having wrongly participated in government decisions that affected companies connected to his wife’s activities.

 

The body said Mr Sánchez had no case to answer.

 

Mr Sánchez said in the letter: “I am not naive. I am aware that they have reported Begona not for doing something illegal – they know there is no case against her – but because she is my wife.”

 

He said the accusations against her were the results of a “mud-churning machine” behind which stood the opposition PP, far-Right Vox and a “constellation” of media outlets he said supported Right-wing interests.

 

“Having reached this point, the question I understandably ask myself is this: is it worth going through all of this?” Mr Sánchez said, adding that he needed to “stop and reflect with my wife”.

 

Mr Sánchez became prime minister in 2018 by ousting Mariano Rajoy, the then PP leader, in a motion-of-no-confidence vote in parliament before leading the Socialist Party to victories in two general elections in 2019 and leading a Left-wing coalition.

 

In the general election held last July, the Socialists finished second behind the PP but Mr Sánchez clung on to power with the support of regional nationalist parties after doing a political U-turn and granting Catalan separatists their wish for an amnesty for politicians involved in an illegal bid for independence in 2017.

 

In his letter, Mr Sánchez accused the PP and Vox of “not accepting the electoral result”.

 

“They realised that a political attack would not be enough and now they have crossed the line in terms of respect for a prime minister’s family life”, he said.

 

Manos Limpias uses a unique Spanish legal instrument known as the “people’s accusation” to bring criminal complaints against third parties.

 

Judges can choose whether or not to act on such complaints and not every accusation has led to a judicial investigation.

 

Some have: Clean Hands’ allegations against Princess Cristina, King Juan Carlos’s younger daughter, led to her prosecution over claims of being an accessory to tax fraud. Her husband was convicted of fraud and tax evasion but she was acquitted.  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/24 April 2024 - - -