Businessman José María Torres, president of Conpymes (National Confederation of SMEs), stated this Thursday before Judge Juan Carlos Peinado that his technology company Numintec has only collaborated with one chair at the Complutense University of Madrid: the Competitive Social Transformation chair, co-directed by Begoña Gómez, to which it contributed 6,000 euros. According to him, he did not receive details about the management of this contribution, but he always understood that the software promoted by the wife of the Prime Minister was for the university.
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Legal sources consulted by EL PAÍS maintain that this is how Torres spoke this afternoon at the courts of Plaza de Castilla, in Madrid, during his testimony as a witness in the case that Judge Peinado is leading against Gómez for alleged influence peddling, business corruption, misappropriation of a brand, and embezzlement.
The businessman’s appearance takes place after the instructor agreed last April to bring the three defendants — Gómez, her advisor in Moncloa, Cristina Álvarez, and businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés — to a trial before a popular jury, that is, before citizens and not a court made up of judges. Although it is usual for witness statements to be held during the investigation phase and before the judge sends the case to trial, in this case Peinado set Torres’s summons in a resolution issued last May 5 by order of the Provincial Court of Madrid.
This Thursday, the businessman recounted that his sponsorship of the chair co-directed by Gómez was limited to financial contributions, unlike other companies that also provided personnel or technical knowledge. Torres’s statement adds to those of representatives of other companies such as Indra, Telefónica, or Google, whose leaders at the time (Marc Murtra, José María Álvarez-Pallete, and Miguel Escassi) met with Gómez to implement her platform. According to the case file, Google invested 110,000 euros in the chair’s software, while Indra contributed 128,442 euros.
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During his appearance, Torres also recounted that he participated in several meetings organized on the occasion of the chair in which Begoña Gómez herself and her advisor were also present. However, he emphasized that the Moncloa employee was particularly dedicated to managing the security of the Prime Minister’s wife. In addition, he pointed out that he coincided with both Gómez and Álvarez at other events related to other entities that he also attended.
Peinado has focused his investigation on the professional activity of the Prime Minister’s wife with businessmen and her working relationship with the Complutense, as well as the development of software for that study center. He has also investigated the tasks performed by the Moncloa advisor to try to determine whether or not there is a diversion of public funds in her hiring, since in his view she collaborates in the private activity of Sánchez’s wife beyond her institutional role.
Gómez’s defense has asked the Provincial Court of Madrid to stop Peinado’s decision to send her to trial with a popular jury. Her lawyer, former socialist minister Antonio Camacho, has also requested the instructor himself to suspend the case until the higher body rules on the appeals pending resolution.
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