The nightmare for Pedro Sánchez continues due to the alleged corruption conspiracy within his party, the PSOE, regarding the purchase of masks as soon as the pandemic broke out. To the responsibility attributed to his former Minister of Transport – whose favorite advisor allegedly received illicit commissions for the purchase of medical supplies – Suspicions are growing about the encounters his wife, Begoña Gómez, hadhe allegedly argued with businessmen linked to the alleged corruption network.
According to the online newspaper The confidentialBegoña Gómez, who usually keeps a low and rigorous profile, would have met Víctor de Aldama and Javier Hidalgo, who would have presented her with business projects: from a request to sell medicines at home -which the Spanish Medicines Agency has never authorized- for real estate initiatives to revitalize depopulated areas of Spain.
De Aldama is the president of the Zamora Football Club. He is credited with textile initiatives in Africa and South America and it seems so It circulated through the Ministry of Transport with preferential subscription.
It would be the link between the public administration and the company that won the purchase of masks, thanks to its good relations with Koldo García, advisor to former minister Abalos and the first piece of the puzzle of illegal collection.
The President of the Government Pedro Sánchez and his wife Begoña Gómez, in 2019. Photo EFEGarcía is the most visible face, so far, of excessive enrichment that is impossible to justify: In a couple of years his assets increased by 1.5 million euros.
Javier Hidalgo, for his part, is the son of Juan José Hidalgo, founder of the Globalia company, to which the Air Europa airline belonged before it was acquired, in 2021 and with a government budget, by Iberia.
Javier was CEO of Air Europa and a restless entrepreneur: he dealt with investment funds, modeling representation and He also ventured into the shipping business.
President Sánchez’s wife, whose CV is the subject of criticism from government opponents, heads a chair created by the Complutense University of Madrid to train labor market experts.
The contacts between the businessman and Begoña Gómez would have occurred more or less in parallel while the Ministry of Transport – which at the time was led by José Luis Abalos, a man very close to Pedro Sánchez – stipulated emergency contracts for the purchase masks as soon as possible.
The National Court investigates these contracts focusing on the illegal commissions that were allegedly paid in the procurements.
And former minister Abalos, based on what has been investigated so far, appears as an “intermediary”.
The PP could summon Sánchez’s wife
“Even the political environment closest to the Socialist Party was overcome to talk about meetings between his own wife and the commissioner and, presumably, with businessmen. This needs and deserves an immediate explanation,” the general secretary of the People’s Party (PP), Cuca Gamarra, said on Thursday.
He did not rule out the possibility of Begoña Gómez being called to testify in the Senate. Although she stressed that it is her husband, Pedro Sánchez, who has to speak.
“At the rate the headlines are going, the president can only last a short time without explaining himself,” Gamarra quipped.
“You should not appear because someone requests it, but by your own will. “He can’t hide for long,” she added.
One less deputy
Within the PSOE, the scandal of illegal commissions pitted the party leadership against former minister Abalos who, until Wednesday, He was one of the 121 socialist deputies in Congress.
Pressure from the PSOE for Abalos to resign from his seat led the former minister to leave the party. And since he refused to leave his post – the position of deputy is personal and does not belong to the PSOE – he became a member, on his own, of the parliamentary group of minority parties, known as the mixed group.
During the government control session on Wednesday, most of the questions to the president were about the “Boldo case”. The opposition leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, shot him: “You have known this for at least three years,” he told Sánchez. “You knew it and you hid it.”
With his response, Pedro Sánchez kicked the ball out of bounds: “It makes one blush to think that they can gain political advantage from corruption.”
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.