Félix Bolaños, Spain’s Minister of the Presidency, has lodged a formal complaint against Judge Juan Carlos Peinado after a strained interrogation related to the Begoña Gómez case. The complaint follows Peinado’s questioning of Bolaños on the sixteenth of April at Moncloa, concerning the hiring of Cristina Álvarez, an adviser to the wife of the Prime Minister. During the interrogation, Bolaños felt the judge’s responses were evasive, leading to a confrontational atmosphere.

Following this, Judge Peinado alleged that Bolaños had not told the truth and requested the Supreme Court to investigate the minister for false testimony, as well as for an alleged misappropriation related to the adviser’s hiring. However, the Supreme Court dismissed Peinado’s request, stating there was ‘absolute absence of any minimally founded indication’ regarding Bolaños’s involvement in any crimes.

Despite the Supreme Court’s decision, Judge Peinado has resumed his investigation and has now summoned both Begoña Gómez and her adviser to appear in court on the tenth and eleventh of September. Legal sources confirm that the Council General of the Judiciary has opened an information procedure on Peinado based on Bolaños’s initial complaint.

Officials from the ministerial office have stated that Bolaños intended to keep these proceedings confidential, arguing that the details recently disclosed are due to the public disclosure by the judge in his ruling dated the eighteenth of August, which mentions the initiation of these information proceedings by the Council General of the Judiciary.