Sanchez Halts Government Activities After Wife’s Corruption Accusation
The Moroccan-Spanish rapprochement has become close to a setback again, if the Prime Minister of Madrid, Pedro Sanchez, decides to leave his position next Monday, following the opening of an investigation by Spanish justice against his wife, Begona Gomez, on charges related to corruption.
This accusation has haunted Sanchez since he decided to shift his country’s position on the Western Sahara issue and involvement in supporting the autonomy plan presented by the Alawite regime in 2007, which caused an unprecedented diplomatic crisis in Algerian-Spanish relations.
The political opponents of the Spanish Prime Minister believe that Sanchez’s concession in favour of the Moroccan regime in the Western Sahara issue came after Moroccan intelligence hacked Sanchez’s phone, in what was known as the “Pegasus” scandal, and obtained sensitive information about him. In contrast, Spanish media reports at the time spoke of economic and financial interests for his wife in the Alawite Kingdom.
What is interesting about the matter is that the accusation of the wife of the Prime Minister of Madrid came only one day after the Spanish justice decided to reopen the file of the “Pegasus” spyware scandal, in which the Moroccan regime was involved, about 12 months after it was suspended, as Spanish observers read that Sanchez was submissive to the Alawite regime after his phone was hacked and confidential information was stolen, which was an entry point to blackmail Sanchez.
Pedro said that he has suspended his activity at the head of the executive branch in Spain, until he decides on his final position in a press conference, this Monday after an investigation was opened by the Spanish judicial authorities against his wife, Begona Gomez, due to her links with the Spanish tourism group “Globalia”, owner of the airline “Air Europa”, at a time when this institution was in talks with the government to obtain aid in the face of the significant decline in air traffic resulting from the “Covid 19” pandemic.
According to the Spanish newspaper El Confidential, Begona Gomez at the time headed the IE Africa Center, a company linked to the Business School of the IE University in Madrid. This plan allowed the airline Air Europa to receive 475 million euros in November 2020, from a $10 billion fund aimed at supporting strategic companies facing difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sanchez, who lost the Spanish legislative elections that took place in July 2023 and then in November of the same year, was unable to remain at the head of the government, except after his right-wing rival, Núñez Feijoo, failed to obtain the recommendation of Parliament, noting that a case was opened against the wife of the Prime Minister came after a complaint filed by an association close to the right-wing party that won the legislative elections and was unable to form a government.
The vacancy in the position of head of the Spanish government has become up for auction and is mainly related to what Sanchez will decide this Monday. Fears have begun to sweep media circles close to the Moroccan regime for fear of a setback in Spanish-Moroccan relations, which have witnessed a state of stability since the spring of 2022 after Sanchez accepted all demands of the Alawite kingdom.
Going to prior legislative elections has become a strong possibility, and this suggests the hypothesis that the Moroccan regime will lose an ally that it has long relied on in the Western Sahara issue, if the Spanish right, led by the “Popular Party,” can win the expected electoral process, knowing that this party’s slogan was to restore relations with Algeria, as stated in its electoral agenda in the summer and fall of 2023.
Moroccan media reports focused on the fate of the Spanish government led by Pedro Sanchez, and these reports expressed Rabat’s fears about the possibility of the future government repudiating the 74 articles that Sanchez signed in the spring of 2022 when he visited the Kingdom of Morocco, and there he made unprecedented Spanish concessions to Rabat, especially regarding decisions related to the Western Sahara issue, with the decision to shift from the neutral Spanish historical position on this issue.
