Spanish court bars prime minister's wife from leaving the country in corruption inquiry
A Spanish investigating judge ordered Begoña Gómez, the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, to surrender her passport and barred her from traveling abroad while she awaits trial. She must also appear before the court twice a month. Gómez faces charges that include embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings and misappropriation of funds.
The inquiry centers on a university chair she co-directed at Madrid’s Complutense University and on allegations she used her position as the prime minister’s wife to secure work contracts — a complaint originally brought by an anticorruption group. No trial date has been set. Gómez denies wrongdoing, and Sánchez’s Socialist Party maintains she is innocent and the target of a politically motivated campaign.
The escalation from investigation to travel restrictions tightens a politically sensitive case directly on the prime minister’s household, giving the opposition fresh leverage against a government that already depends on a fragile parliamentary arithmetic. The substance still hinges on what prosecutors can prove about the contracts and the university post.