Spain: Sánchez and without shame

*This article was originally published in French

Excerpt

It was in Beijing, where Xi Jinping was hosting him with full honors, that Pedro Sánchez learned his wife had been formally charged with corruption. Unperturbed, the Spanish prime minister brushed the matter aside in a single sentence: “I am convinced that time will put everything and everyone back in their place.” Then he returned to his preferred role—invoking the “rules-based international order,” condemning the American operation against Iran as “illegal,” and accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza. Meanwhile, in Madrid, the judiciary was moving forward—and moving toward him.

After two years of investigation, Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has retained four charges against Mrs. Sánchez: influence peddling, corruption, misappropriation of public funds, and undue appropriation. She allegedly had a tailor-made position created for her at the Complutense University of Madrid, funded by major private companies for over €300,000, before registering under her own name the software developed with those funds. Sánchez’s brother is also being prosecuted for influence peddling, while his former close ally, José Luis Ábalos, ex-minister of transport, has been implicated in a separate investigation into illicit commissions.

Simone Rodan-Benzaquen is senior envoy for Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).