The Official State Gazette (BOE) published this Saturday the forced retirement due to age of judge Juan Carlos Peinado, who this Sunday, September 27, turns 72 years old and thus ends his judicial career. His last professional stage has been marked by the investigation into Begoña Gómez, wife of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, a case that began in April 2024 and will go to trial for alleged crimes of influence peddling and embezzlement.
The official publication comes a day after Peinado definitively left the Court of Instruction number 41 of Madrid, where he had been for nearly a decade. The magistrate had requested to extend his stay in the judicial career until the maximum legal age and was already listed in the official registry of members of the judiciary born in 1954.
His last significant decision came the Monday before his departure: he issued the order to open trial against Begoña Gómez and her advisor, Cristina Álvarez, within the part of the investigation related to influence peddling and embezzlement. The Provincial Court of Madrid had previously endorsed that these facts could be judged through the procedure of the Jury Court. Gómez maintains her innocence and has requested acquittal.
Two and a half years with the focus on Begoña Gómez
Peinado was known within the Madrid courts, but his name definitively came to the forefront of current events in April 2024, when a complaint filed by Manos Limpias against Begoña Gómez arrived at his court. From that moment, he initiated an investigation that lasted more than two years and was accompanied by intense political and legal debate.
During the investigation, the magistrate even traveled to the Palace of La Moncloa to take a statement as a witness from Pedro Sánchez, also summoned Minister Félix Bolaños, and investigated various lines related to Gómez's professional activity. Some of the proceedings were later corrected or limited by the Provincial Court, while others received the support of the higher court.
The case evolved over the months. The Court ended up excluding from the future trial the alleged crimes of business corruption and misappropriation, while keeping the jury route open for influence peddling and embezzlement.
An investigation surrounded by controversy
The investigation was marked by decisions that generated controversy both in the legal and political fields. Among them were summons set on weekends or during Holy Week, the taking of a statement from the president of the Government in Moncloa, and some expressions used by the magistrate in his resolutions.
Peinado even compared certain investigated facts to practices “more typical of absolutist regimes” and to the reign of Fernando VII, words that sparked criticism from the Government and from Gómez's defense.
He also received several complaints for alleged prevarication and complaints before the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). Among those who went to the governing body of judges was Minister Félix Bolaños. None of these initiatives have so far resulted in a conviction against Peinado.
At the same time, the Provincial Court of Madrid supported some of the central decisions of the instructor, including the possibility that the facts related to influence peddling and embezzlement be examined by a popular jury.
From lawyer and municipal secretary to judge at 40 years old
Peinado arrived at the judiciary relatively late. He entered the judicial career at 40 years old, after having worked as a lawyer and as a municipal secretary in various municipalities of the Community of Madrid.
Before settling permanently in Plaza de Castilla, he passed through courts in Ávila, Toledo, Albacete, and Madrid. His last destination was position 41 of the Instruction Section of the Court of Instance of Madrid, formerly Court of Instruction number 41. Official records of the Judiciary place his date of birth on September 27, 1954.
From that court, he processed various procedures over the last decade that had public repercussions. Among them was the triple murder committed in 2016 in a law office in Usera, whose accused ended up being tried in Venezuela, as well as proceedings related to messages published on social networks by the then Madrid councilors Pablo Soto and Guillermo Zapata.
Other controversial procedures
Before the Begoña Gómez case, Peinado had also appeared in the news for other investigations. He opened proceedings against the former footballer Raúl González Blanco for an alleged concealment of assets and in 2019 charged several journalists within an investigation for alleged revelation of secrets related to the summary of the Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), an action that was later archived.
He also instructed a case against a responsible person from the Municipal Transport Company of Madrid (EMT) that ended up archived once the investigation period expired, and examined complaints related to the alleged access to emails of Isabel Díaz Ayuso's partner and the actions of the Madrid City Council regarding a bus promoted by Hazte Oír.
His retirement comes, however, inevitably associated with the procedure that dominated his last years in active service.
Peinado leaves, but the case continues
The magistrate's withdrawal does not halt the proceedings against Begoña Gómez. The instructor had already concluded his intervention by issuing the order to open trial and the case now moves to the next procedural phase.
Nine citizens will make up the jury responsible for assessing the accusations of alleged influence peddling and embezzlement. It will be the court that holds the trial that must examine the evidence and determine if there is criminal responsibility; until then, Begoña Gómez maintains the presumption of innocence.
Peinado thus closes a judicial career that began at the age of 40 and concluded at 72. His last decision before leaving Plaza de Castilla was precisely the one that marks the next chapter of the procedure that turned a judge previously little known outside the Madrid courts into one of the most prominent judicial figures in recent Spanish political history.