The Spanish State Intervention Office, under the Ministry of Finance, has identified multiple irregularities in public contracts awarded to businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés's companies after they presented recommendation letters from Begoña Gómez, wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. In a comprehensive 303-page report submitted to European prosecutors and Madrid's Court of Instruction number 41, auditors documented numerous procedural violations in contract awards made by Red.es, Spain's public entity for digital transformation.
The investigation revealed that key metadata was deleted from the bidding processes, compromising document traceability and transparency. According to the audit findings, this elimination of critical information occurred in competitions that ultimately resulted in Barrabés securing three contracts totaling 10.2 million euros. The European Prosecutor's Office took over this aspect of the investigation because the contracts were financed with European Union funds, elevating the case to international scrutiny.
Central to the audit's findings is the illegal involvement of Red.es's contracting committee in evaluating technical criteria. The report states that Red.es violated Spanish law by having its contracting committee assess subjective technical criteria that should have been evaluated by an independent expert committee. Furthermore, the department director who prepared the technical reports participated in the evaluation process despite being ineligible for committee membership due to conflict of interest concerns.
The audit also identified potential discrimination and arbitrary treatment of bidders, noting that consideration of third-party agreements and support letters—including those from Begoña Gómez—distorted the technical evaluation process. These elements were not specified in the original bidding documents, giving Barrabés's companies an unfair advantage over other competitors. The case remains under investigation by both Spanish judicial authorities and European prosecutors, with both Begoña Gómez and Juan Carlos Barrabés maintaining their status as investigated parties in the ongoing legal proceedings.
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