In April 2024, the wife of the Prime Minister and Secretary-General of the PSOE signed at least two letters supporting the UTE (Temporary Union of Companies) formed by entrepreneur Barrabés’s consultancy in two bidding processes initiated by Red.es in 2020. The company, backed by Begoña Gómez, ended up winning the three lots it bid for, totaling €10.2 million, after outperforming other rivals in the subjective evaluation part of the tenders.
After a year of investigations, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has indicted entrepreneur Juan Carlos Barrabés and a Red.es executive after finding irregularities in contracts endorsed by Pedro Sánchez’s wife through recommendation letters. The prosecutor’s office detects indications of tender manipulation, in which excessive weight was given to subjective evaluations—precisely those that were boosted by letters like those submitted by Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez.
According to sources close to the case El Confidencial informs, the EU Prosecutor’s Office believes that the accusations of misappropriation, influence peddling, and malfeasance in public office, which initiated this part of the proceedings in the so-called Begoña case, are substantiated. During this period, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has reviewed the awarding of several contracts for the development of training activities, financed by the European Social Fund.
On May 30, the secrecy of the case was lifted, and it was then that the order was issued to summon Barrabés and the Red.es executive as indicted parties. The investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office runs parallel to the one opened by Madrid’s Investigative Court number 41 against Begoña Gómez for alleged crimes of influence peddling and corruption in the private sector. It focuses on the alleged use of funds from Brussels to finance the contracts, specifically regarding three intended for the execution of training services in the digital economy for young people and the unemployed. The agency claimed jurisdiction over this part of the investigation from Judge Peinado.
