A court in Madrid said it has opened a preliminary investigation into Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's wife on suspicion of influence peddling and corruption, AFP reports.
In a brief statement, the court said it had "opened an investigation into an alleged offence of influence peddling and business corruption against Begona Gomez."
The statement said the investigation, which is "subject to an order of secrecy", was launched on 16 April following a complaint filed by Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), an anti-corruption group whose leader is linked to the far-right.
The court's statement came a few hours after the online news site El Confidencial published a story saying investigators were probing Gomez's ties to several private companies that ultimately received funds or government contracts.
The publication claimed that the investigation was linked to her alleged links to the Spanish travel group Globalia, which owns Air Europa.
The links were made when the carrier was negotiating with the government to obtain a huge bailout after being hit hard by a drop in air traffic due to the Covid-19 crisis.
At the time, Gomez ran the IE Africa Center, a foundation affiliated with Madrid business school Instituto de Empresa (IE), a position he is leaving in 2022.
El Confidencial reported that IE Africa Center had "signed a sponsorship agreement with Globalia in 2020" and that Gomez had also "held a private meeting with its CEO Javier Hidalgo at the company's offices. At the same time, Globalia was negotiating with the government for a multi-million-dollar grant." / BGNES
