The information provided by the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) The Senate’s investigation committee continues to provide striking data that show that the treatment received by Begoña Gómez, the wife of the President of the Government, does not seem to have been the norm. For example, it is curious that, according to the documentation to which this newspaper has had access, the UCM states that the directors and co-directors of the extraordinary chairs are not remunerated. Thus, in Annex II to the UCO letter 95/2024, the UCM Transparency report is included, and when the university assesses whether they can facilitate the request that they receive, relying on the same Transparency Law, they conclude the following: “As regards possible remuneration, the UCM informs that it will not remunerate the director of the Chair for the exercise of this responsibility, as occurs with all other extraordinary chairs.”
However, despite these clarifications from the UCM, the economic data in the possession of the Senate’s investigative commission show that Begoña Gómez received 5,500 euros for the “Direction of the Chair”and another 15,000 for the Master’s degree he taught.
Begoña Gómez, in addition to co-directing the chair, also co-directed the Master’s Degree in Public and Private Fundraising Management in Non-Profit Organizations, which is taught in two modalities, semi-presential and non-presential. It has been taught at the UCM since the 2014/15 academic year. As it is not an official master’s degree, until the change in regulations for continuing education studies at the UCM, approved by the Governing Council on June 28, 2022, the Master’s proposal had to be approved each year by the UCM’s Continuing Education Commission and its price by the University’s Social Council.
The proposals for the 2023/2024 academic year have a semi-presential and a non-presential modality, approved by the steering committee of the School of Government on March 27, 2023, by the Permanent Training Commission on May 29, 2023, and by the Plenary Session of the Social Council on June 9, 2023. The budget included in the proposal for the blended learning master’s degree was 49,725 euros, and for the non-face-to-face master’s degree, 55,675.
In addition to this master’s degree, taught in two modalities, Begoña Gómez participates as co-director in a second master’s degree that is taught in a blended learning modality. The budget included in the proposal for its creation was 121,176 euros.
To see the amounts that Begoña Gómez actually received, it is necessary to know the content of the reports of the two degrees (one of them taught in two different modalities). These reports include the final budget based on the final number of students who taught the courses, which was as follows: in the master’s degree in Fundraising in a blended mode, The management received 15,000 euros; in the master’s degree in Fundraising In non-face-to-face mode, according to the report, there were 13 students, plus three additional scholarship recipients, and the direction and co-direction were carried out 9.180 eurosand in eThe report certifies that seven students received scholarships and three paid 100% of the cost of the master’s degree. The UCM retained 10,000 euros, gross income 66,960 euros, and net income 56,916 euros.Instead of receiving the expected 21,176 euros, management ultimately received 10,000 euros.
And there is a final section where Begoña Gómez could have obtained performance and it is regarding the teaching hours that she is authorized to teach and that are 37.5 hours in the first two and 80 in the second. It is difficult to calculate a priori the amount that she could have earned for this activity, since the teaching hour It is paid at a rate of 90 euros per hour, except for tutorials, correction and being part of the Master’s Final Project tribunals, whose amounts vary and reach up to 120 euros.
Just as there were companies that ended up dropping ballast, when they discovered that the sponsorship they were doing did not comply with their internal codes, the Complutense has now sent a report that leaves it up to Judge Peinado to decide whether the president’s wife committed misappropriation at the expense of the educational center. Today she is again summoned to court to testify before the judge who is investigating her for alleged crimes of influence peddling and corruption in business. This statement comes after the businessman Carlos Barrabes has testified before the judge that he met Pedro Sánchez and his wife in Moncloa on two occasions. He also held another half dozen meetings with the latter in the presidential complex.
The contracts awarded to one of Barrabés’ companies, Innova Next, are the beginning of the case against Begoña Gómez. The president’s wife wrote recommendation letters for this company for contracts with the public company Red.es, in which Innova Next was the winner.