The documentation that is already in the possession of the Senate’s investigative committee, to which LA RAZÓN has had access, includes the minutes, sent by the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), on how the committee was developed in which the appointment of Begoña Gómez, wife of the President of the Government, as director of a new university chair, created “ad hoc” with the title of Extraordinary Chair for Competitive Digital Transformation.
She attended the meeting of the joint committee for monitoring the Chair, held on October 30, 2020, as stated in the minutes, and from there she emerged as director, with the support, by the way, of Paloma Román Marugán, representing the School of Government of the UCM, and a “doctor” on the PSOE. The thesis is from 1987.
Also in attendance were a representative from the La Caixa Foundation and another from Reale Seguros, the first sponsors of the master’s degree, as well as the Vice-Rector for Institutional Relations at the Complutense, Juan Carlos Doadrio Villarejo.
The documentation registered in the Senate includes other “papers” such as the agreement between the Complutense University, Reale Seguros and La Caixa. Or the addendum by which Forética joins the sponsorship of Begoña Gómez’s chair. In January of this year, the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI) joined Forética to “act from the public business sector as a driving entity in matters of sustainable development and contribute to the promotion of the social and good governance aspects of its companies.”
Within this questionable process of creation and development of the chair directed by the wife of the President of the Government, the note is added, which comes from the aforementioned documentation that is in the possession of the investigation commission, that among the other sponsors that were added in the case of the Chamber of Commerce, an agreement was signed in which it was specified in its point 5 that “the parties may not use the name and/or logo or any reference, even in relation to the existence of this agreement, without express prior authorization from the other party.” However, the name of the Chamber of Commerce did appear in the list of sponsors of Begoña Gómez’s university activity.
By the way, after the controversy broke out, the chair, in which he taught 37.5 hours, will not be maintained in the next academic year as its renewal has not been requested, as required by the UCM for its continuity.
The university’s own degrees must be evaluated at the end of each course as a prerequisite for their continuation, which has not occurred in this case.
The president’s wife is due to appear today at the Plaza Castilla courts in Madrid as a suspect in alleged crimes of influence peddling or corruption in the private sector. Specifically, she is due to appear before the 41st Court of Instruction, for which a special procedure has had to be set up due to the expectation generated.
Last Tuesday, Judge Fernando Peinado reported that he is maintaining the summons for Gómez as a suspect and also revealed that he is studying another chain of events that, as he stated in his ruling, “could be worthy of being investigated.”
The judge has also summoned the rector of the Complutense University, Joaquín Goyeche, as a witness today, “given the state of the proceedings.” And he will question the businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés, despite the illness he suffers from and which, according to the communication received by the court, kept him in a delicate state of health. In a ruling, the judge confirmed that the businessman, who is not accused of anything, cannot even move, but he will question him on July 15 because “there is no forecast of his health recovering in the short term, if it ever happens.” This summons occurs despite the fact that the European Prosecutor’s Office is in charge of the investigation concerning the public contracts obtained by the company of Juan Carlos Barrabés, a businessman who shared a chair at the aforementioned university center with the president’s wife.