Spanish court rejects PM’s legal action against judge in wife’s case

A Spanish court on Friday rejected a lawsuit filed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez against the judge investigating alleged influence-peddling and corruption by his wife Begona Gomez.

Sanchez accused Juan Carlos Peinado of violating the law in July after the judge refused to allow the premier to testify in his wife's case by writing, filing a lawsuit through Spain's state legal services.

Sanchez was instead summoned to testify at his official Madrid residence in the investigation into Gomez's business ties that has roiled Spanish politics for months.

But the Madrid High Court deemed the lawsuit "baseless", "knowingly gratuitous" and "arbitrary" in a ruling published on Friday.

"At the same time it seriously undermines the climate of calm that should accompany the duty of the judiciary," it said.

The ruling added that officials wielding powers of the state have a special responsibility to preserve that atmosphere to protect the independence of judges.

Gomez, who has worked in fundraising for years, is being investigated since April for alleged influence-peddling and corruption following a complaint filed by anti-graft NGO "Manos Limpias" ("Clean Hands"), which has links to the far right.

She is alleged to have used her husband's position as leverage in her professional circles, notably with a businessman, Juan Carlos Barrabes, who was seeking public funding.

Sanchez and his Socialist party have repeatedly dismissed the accusations and say they are part of a smear campaign by the conservative and far-right opposition against his fragile minority government.

Sanchez initially threatened to quit as prime minister when the the affair broke in April, and withdrew from his duties for five days before deciding to continue.