On July 15, Judge Juan Carlos Peinado took as witness the statement of businessman Carlos Barrabés within the framework of the cause which commands against the wife of the president of the government, Begoña Gómezfor the alleged commission of crimes of commercial corruption and influence peddling. In this document, Barrabés admitted before the judge to having met Gómez, as well as Pedro Sánchez, on several occasions. Now, laSexta has been able to access the recording of this testimony that the investigating judge shared this Monday with the parties involved in the procedure.
As reported by this channel at the time, the Aragonese businessman claimed to know both the main accused and the socialist. In fact, He quantified these meetings in “two or three” with Sánchez, while with Gómez there were “eight or nine” due to the master’s degree directed by the interested party and in which Barrabés taught. Likewise, he explained that he had also met both of them at the Moncloa Palace, where he claims to have gone “four or five” times or “something like that”, added Barrabés, stressing that “he would not want to give an exact number”.
The magistrate then asked him if these visits were his initiative or “people he claims to have met.” Faced with this, Barrabés responded that he always went to the presidential complex. “with invitation”. Regarding the purpose of the meetings, the businessman points out that “with Begoña Gómez” they talked “about the master’s degree”, while “with Pedro Sánchez” he considers having “had a tour or something like that” so that the president knows his “opinion on the situation of innovation in Spain”: “Things that I know”, said the businessman.
“When I meet Begoña, she is usually alone, but sometimes he is with women who worked with her. Always girls. But I don’t know the names, they were people from her team,” the Aragonese businessman explained to Peinado, while specifying that when he was “with Pedro Sánchez, there was Manuel de la Rocha and there was another person,” of whom he does not remember “who it was”, but it was “at his level”, in reference to Rocha.
Furthermore, “during the other” interview he had with the president, He claims to remember “perfectly”, The socialist, his wife, were present “and Alberto Barreiro, a person from the world of design.” About this meeting, he affirms that “it was a conversation about innovation” whose duration was “short” because “it [el presidente del Gobierno] “He must have made a call.”
Barrabés in master
Regarding his hiring as a teacher during the school year, Barrabés told Peinado that He has already collaborated “with many masters”, So Gómez called him and asked if he “could help him with a master’s module” corresponding to the “strategy part.” From there, Barrabés says he “inquired” about the master’s degree, which Gómez assured him belonged to Complutense.
Then, as it seemed to him “a serious thing,” he accepted. “It was more or less,” the businessman said before Judge Peinado, who, throughout his statement, emphasized several times his delicate health conditionwhich does not allow to remember clearly all the aspects. In fact, this is the reason that led to this testimony taking place electronically.
Furthermore, Barrabés also ruled out meeting with the rector of the Complutense University of Madrid, Joaquin Goyache Goñias well as the vice-rector of Institutional Relations until 2022 of the same institution, Juan Carlos Duadrio. However, he admitted to also knowing the businessman. Javier Hidalgosince he had a “working relationship” with him having been a “client” of Barrabés’ company.
Of course, Barrabés assures that with “none of them” maintains a “friendly relationship”including the President of the Government and his wife: “They are not my friends,” he declared before the magistrate on July 15.
A prospective survey
It was precisely because of the way the businessman established a relationship with Hidalgo that Peinado got into trouble. clearly forward-looking questions. Specifically, the magistrate asked if he was the one who introduced Begoña Gómez to the former CEO of the company Globalia, to which the businessman replied in the negative. Peinado asked the businessman if he knew this company, to which Barrabés replied in the affirmative, although he specified that he had known it for “20 minutes”.
Regarding the meetings with Hidalgo, he acknowledged having maintained “several meetings” both “in his office” and during meals, they got to know each other, as well as a “for a while” that took place at Hidalgo’s house
Another occasion when Peinado was somewhat forward-looking was when he asked Barrabés if he knew Felix Jordan de Urries. Person whom the monitor became aware of following a letter he sent Phalangist lawyer Ramiro Grau in which he claimed that Urríes was the couple’s ski instructor.
Barrabés says he doesn’t know him “much”, although he knows that he is from Benasque, a town in the Pyrenees of Huesca where he is also a businessman. “I have a relationship with them for more than twenty yearsbut I don’t know these younger people either.”
He further clarified that Urries “is a representative of ski brands and so on,” as well as “a great skier” He is therefore a ski instructor. However, he ruled out knowing whether he had taught Pedro Sánchez and Begoña Gómez.
