In 2021, Spain’s National Court found Manos Limpias guilty of using the threat of legal action and smear campaigns to extort banks and companies. That conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court earlier this year, but magistrates noted that the group’s operations were ethically “reprehensible.”
What does Manos Limpias say about Gómez?
In its complaint, Manos Limpias alleges Sánchez’s wife engaged in influence peddling and corruption while working at the private IE Business School and Madrid’s public Complutense University.
While Gómez worked at IE’s Business Institute she met several times with the owners of Globalia, a conglomerate that owns Air Europa. That airline later received a pandemic-related bailout from the government that was no different from the financial support other European Union countries gave strategic companies, but the complaint alleges that the rescue was orchestrated by Gómez.
The complaint also claims that Gómez intervened to have the government favor a businessman who participated in a program she oversaw at Complutense University. When the businessman applied for a public contract, he submitted 32 letters of recommendation, one of which was signed by the prime minister’s wife. The contract was allocated by a government entity that has no direct links to the prime minister’s office, but the complaint alleges that Gómez somehow influenced its actions.
Manos Limpias’ complaint consists of a letter accompanied by several press clippings, but no hard evidence to back its accusations; since filing the suit, the organization has admitted it may have based its allegations on “fake news.”
Spanish legal experts note that the accusations outlined in the complaint do not themselves meet the legal requirements to charge someone with a crime. On Thursday morning, Spanish prosecutors asked that the case be dismissed.
