Spain Under Scrutiny: Power, Impunity, and the Politics of Protection
Here is a faithful, rigorous English translation, keeping the hard tone, legal caution, journalistic language, and structural analysis intact. Nothing is softened, nothing is exaggerated.
Power as Family: Anatomy of an Institutional Network Under Scrutiny
In contemporary Spain, the center of political power is not limited to legislative programs or parliamentary debate. The structures that truly shape how the State operates are networks of loyalty, favors, appointments, and personal relationships that blur the line between the public sphere and partisan power. This phenomenon is not unique to one party or one government. What makes it particularly troubling is how, when unchecked, these networks tend to generate state capture, clientelism, and institutional impunity.
1) The Begoña Gómez Case: Multiple Charges, Ongoing Proceedings, Open Questions
The wife of the Prime Minister, Begoña Gómez, is currently the subject of a judicial investigation involving multiple alleged criminal offenses, though no final conviction has been issued.
📍 What is known
Since April 2024, Madrid’s Court of Instruction No. 41, under Judge Juan Carlos Peinado, has kept Gómez under formal investigation (imputada) for up to five alleged crimes, including misappropriation of public funds, influence peddling, corruption in business, misappropriation, and professional intrusion. These allegations relate to her academic activities, her links to private companies that obtained public contracts, and the hiring of her assistant using public funds within the Prime Minister’s Office.
📌 The judge formally expanded the scope of the investigation to include all five alleged offenses. This procedural status does not imply guilt, but it does confirm that the court found sufficient indications to justify continued investigation.
📍 Procedural status
The investigation has remained open for more than a year, with repeated judicial summons.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested the dismissal of several charges, arguing that objective criminal elements are lacking in parts of the case.
In September 2025, Judge Peinado ruled that, should the malversation charge proceed to trial, it would be heard by a jury court.
👉 Conclusion: The case remains in the investigative phase, with several charges still under examination and significant disagreement between prosecutors and the presiding judge. There is no final ruling or conviction, but the judicial process is active and unresolved.
2) The “Koldo Case”: Formal Charges and Pre-Trial Detention
One of the most significant corruption investigations currently unfolding in Spain is known as the “Koldo case” (Operation Delorme), involving an alleged network of commissions and irregular public contracts during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
📍 Key defendants
Koldo García Izaguirre, former senior adviser to the former Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, is considered the central figure in the case.
José Luis Ábalos, former Minister of Transport, has been formally charged by the Spanish Supreme Court with alleged membership in a criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling, and misappropriation.
Víctor de Aldama, identified by investigators as an intermediary and alleged commission broker, is also formally charged.
📍 Preventive detention
In November 2025, the Supreme Court ordered pre-trial detention for both Ábalos and Koldo García, citing risk of flight and possible destruction of evidence, following a request by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
📍 Key evidence
The investigation relies in part on audio recordings seized by the Guardia Civil, which law-enforcement authorities have declared authentic, despite defense challenges to their integrity.
👉 Conclusion: Unlike other cases still in early stages, the Koldo case involves formal indictments, confirmed judicial measures, and ongoing Supreme Court proceedings.
3) Santos Cerdán: Indictment, Detention, and Disputed Evidence
Santos Cerdán, former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, was arrested and held in pre-trial detention in connection with the same corruption network before being released under precautionary measures after judicial review.
Cerdán has submitted expert reports to the Supreme Court alleging that some of the audio recordings used as evidence may have been manipulated. The court has ordered technical expert hearings to assess these claims.
👉 Conclusion: Cerdán remains judicially linked to the case, with proceedings ongoing and the evidentiary debate unresolved.
4) Additional Investigations Affecting the Governing Party
The “Leire Díez Case”
A Madrid court is investigating Leire Díez for alleged influence peddling and bribery, following complaints that she attempted to orchestrate discrediting campaigns against senior law-enforcement officers and prosecutors.
👉 Status: Preliminary investigations are ongoing. No trial or conviction has occurred.
Other related proceedings
Spanish courts are currently examining multiple cases involving figures close to the governing party or linked to public procurement, most of them still in the investigative phase.
5) The Core of Power: Pedro Sánchez and Institutional Tension
Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain, has not been charged or indicted in any of these cases. Judicial proceedings formally target third parties, though many of them are family members, close collaborators, or former senior officials within his political orbit.
The accumulation of investigations involving Sánchez’s immediate environment has produced persistent institutional tension between the executive branch and segments of the judiciary, including public disputes over judicial decisions and prosecutorial actions.
6) What These Patterns Reveal About State Capture
Viewed collectively, these cases reveal a structural pattern that extends beyond individual wrongdoing.
Personal networks over institutional safeguards
When family ties and political loyalty intersect with access to public funds, appointments, and decision-making power, the boundary between public service and private interest becomes dangerously thin. This does not prove criminal conduct, but it does expose a system where power circulates within a closed network.
Modern clientelism
The recurring presence of public contracts, intermediaries, and politically connected actors under judicial scrutiny suggests a system where the State risks becoming a distributor of favors rather than an impartial regulator.
Institutional impunity and judicial politicization
Repeated accusations of judicial overreach or political interference—coming from both sides—have contributed to a perception that justice itself is entangled in political conflict, weakening public trust in the rule of law.
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