Begoña Gómez | |
|---|---|
 Gómez in 2018 | |
| Born | María Begoña Gómez Fernández (1975-01-29)29 January 1975 (age 50)[1] Bilbao, Spain |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2[citation needed] |
María Begoña Gómez Fernández (born 29 January 1975)[1] is the wife ofPedro Sánchez, thePrime Minister of Spain.
Gómez was director of business outsourcing for the Inmark Group until her husband became Prime Minister of Spain in 2018. From 2018 to 2022, she was executive director of the Africa Center of the Institute of Enterprise. Since 2020, she has been the extraordinary Chair of Competitive Social Transformation of theComplutense University of Madrid.
She is currently the focus of an investigation by the courts in regard to her alleged illegal appropriation of industrial property, among other cases.
Gómez was born inBilbao. Her father is Sabiniano Gómez Serrano, and she has one brother, Miguel Gómez Fernández. She spent most of her childhood inValderas, in theprovince of León, where she moved not long after her birth.[2] As a young woman, Gómez moved to Madrid to study.
Although she indicated in hercurriculum vitae that she obtained a bachelor's degree in marketing fromESIC University, a private business and marketing school,[3] a journalistic investigation byOkdiario revealed, with documentary evidence and statements by fellow students and the school's director, that she actually followed a marketing programme at M&B School of Marketing and Business, a private entity, and that what she obtained was adiploma, not a degree with official value, so her level of studies is aSpanish Baccalaureate.[4][5][6][7][8] Subsequently, she took two courses intertiary education at a non-degree level: one inbusiness management and another inbusiness administration,business relations, and data management.[3]
Gómez began her career at the Atenea Business Center, of which she was director from 1996 to 1999.[3] In 2000, she started working for the Inmark Group; she worked there and was director of business outsourcing for 18 years until her husband became Prime Minister of Spain in 2018.[9] She was also strategy consultant and team training for Spain and Portugal from 1999 to 2018, professor in the Master in Marketing and Commercial Management atEAE Business School from 2009 to 2010, and coordinating partner of the Business Social Transformation WAS working group since 2018.[3]
Following her husbandPedro Sánchez' appointment as thePrime Minister of Spain in June 2018, Gómez obtained a University[which?] Chair in "Competitive Social Transformation" and became co-director of a new Master program in Competitive Social Transformation, and co-director of the fundraising title for the third sector (UCM and AEFR)[further explanation needed].[3] She was also a partner of the Spanish Fundraising Association and executive director of the Africa Center of theInstitute of Enterprise from 2018 to 2022.[3] In 2020, she became the extraordinary Chair of Competitive Social Transformation of theComplutense University of Madrid, a position that she maintained into 2024 alongside her co-director role and teacher of the master's degree.[3][nb 1] She did not hold any political office and maintained a low profile.[3][11]
On 24 April 2024, a judge opened an investigation into Gómez for possibleinfluence trafficking andcorruption following a complaint by a number of anti-graft organizations, includingManos Limpias,[12] or Clean Hands in English (referencing the 1990s Italian corruption investigative poolMani pulite),[13][14] an anti-corruption non-governmental organization.[14][15] Led byMiguel Bernad [es], formerly the secretary general of the far-rightNational Front,[16] it considers itself a trade union but its main activity is acting as a platform pursuing politically-motivated legal cases; for example, they brought the popular accusation againstIñaki Urdangarín and his wife the daughter of the King of Spain, which led to the conviction of the former for corruption offences.[17]
Gómez had signed several letters of recommendation for companies that ended up receiving state aid or contracts.[18] TheCentral Operative Unit (UCO) of theCivil Guard found no evidence that she or Sanchez himself interceded in favour of these companies,[19][20] but some considered her behavior to be ethically doubtful; unlike countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain has no code of ethics defining activities of the relatives of public officials.[18]
At a rally of theSpanish far-right partyVox in Madrid on 19 May 2024, the incumbent Argentinian presidentJavier Milei called Gómez corrupt, which caused a diplomatic crisis with Argentina, and the Spanish ambassador demanded apologies.[18] The attack on his wife caused Sanchez to take a five-day recess and consider resignation,[21] which he ultimately did not do, writing: "We are absolutely calm. There is nothing behind these accusations, only a cheap hoax created by far-right groups."[11] The education minister and government spokespersonPilar Alegría expressed surprise at the fact the news of the investigation came out ahead of the2024 European Parliament election in Spain and stated: "We know that there is absolutely nothing here. What we have here is a mudslinging campaign by the right and the far right."[11][15] Gómez was scheduled to testify before a Madrid court on 5 July 2024 as "an investigated party" about "the alleged offences of corruption in the private sector and influence peddling".[14][22][23]
On 10 June 2024, theEuropean Public Prosecutor's Office, which rejected Vox's private accusation because these are not allowed in this type of procedure, demanded that the court assume part of the investigation of the case for alleged corruption, alleging that European funds were involved.[24]
Complutense University sent the court a report in which it found indications that Gómez could have committed a crime ofmisappropriation by having appropriated software financed by the University itself, and by having issued contracts and expenses on behalf of the University without being authorized to do so. The report also indicated lack of cooperation on the part of the investigated.[25]
On 15 July 2024, Juan Carlos Barrabés, a Spanish businessman linked to Gomez, testified as a witness. He claimed to have met up to eight times with Gómez at theMoncloa Palace, and on at least two occasions with PresidentPedro Sánchez present.[26] On July 19, 2024, Gómez refused to testify before Judge Peinado. The vice-rectors of Complutense University stated that they had warned Gómez that she could not put the software financed by the Complutense University in her name. Likewise, vice-rector Juan Carlos Doadrio declared that it was rector Joaquín Goyache who had ordered him to create the chair of Gómez.[27]
On 29 October 2024, the judge charged Gómez with alleged crimes ofmisappropriation and professional trespassing for supposedly having appropriated the software of the chair that was paid for by theComplutense University.[28] In September 2025, Judge Juan Carlos Peinado summoned Gomez to appear in court for a jury trial.[29]
Gómez married Sánchez in 2006, at theHipódromo de la Zarzuela racecourse in Madrid, in a ceremony officiated byPSOE politicianTrinidad Jiménez.[30] They have two daughters, Carlota (born 2005) and Ainhoa (born 2007).[31]
Gómez and several government politicians were early positive cases in theCOVID-19 pandemic in Spain after they had attended anInternational Women's Day march on 8 March 2020. That event was criticized for going ahead while the virus was spreading.[32][33] On 2 May 2020, Sánchez confirmed Gómez's recovery.[34]