Spanish PM's Wife Allowed UK Trip Despite Travel Ban

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A Spanish court granted Begoña Gómez, wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, permission to go to London for their daughter's graduation, despite a court-ordered ban on leaving the country due to an ongoing corruption prosecution. However, the court denied her plea to accompany Sánchez to the NATO meeting in Ankara, stating that the official travel is unnecessary and posed a higher flight risk because Turkey is not part of the European Union's judicial cooperation framework.

Gómez had requested permission from the court to travel from July 7 to 10 as part of the Spanish delegation to the NATO meeting, followed by a family function in London. Acting judge Antonio Viejo, who is filling in for investigative judge Juan Carlos Peinado while he is on vacation, permitted only the London travel. The court temporarily eases the passport ban for Gómez's journey to the United Kingdom, but she must surrender her passport again immediately upon returning to Spain.

Last month, Judge Peinado ordered Gómez's trial on counts of influence peddling, commercial corruption, embezzlement, and theft of public funds. As a precaution, she was compelled to surrender her passport, prevented from leaving Spain, and ordered to report to court twice a month until the trial. Gómez has denied any wrongdoing, while Sánchez has frequently branded the probe as a politically motivated effort to destabilise his government.

The case is one of many corruption investigations involving close associates of Sánchez that have raised political pressure on his minority government. Although the prime minister has not been charged of any crime, he has claimed that the claims against his wife and allies are part of a larger campaign by his opponents to remove him from office.