Aldama links Begoña Gómez to $6M offshore accounts

Aldama links Begoña Gómez to $6M offshore accounts

A complaint stamped by the Prosecutor's Office on January 13. A bank list showing over $6 million in foreign accounts. And three names: Begoña Gómez, María Jesús Montero, and Sonsoles Espinosa, vvife of former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. This is what businessman Víctor de Aldama revealed in a radio interview, turning a quiet morning into a media earthquake. The figure alone explains nothing. The context does.

What Aldama alleged and where he said it

Aldama claimed to have copies of the complaint and bank list, stating that the President’s vvife appears in foreign accounts holding more than $6 million, with focus on countries like the Dominican Republic. He added that the complaint has an official entry stamp but admitted not knowing if it is under investigation. In the same appearance, he implicated Deputy Prime Minister María Jesús Montero and Sonsoles Espinosa.

The account did not come through any random channel. First on a morning radio show, then picked up by digital press. The sequence matters: it was not an anonymous leak, but a named accusation launched live. With a warning: there is an envelope Aldama called "very delicate" which he says he will handle with the Prosecutor's Office and likely the Supreme Court.

The envelope, €182 million, and VAT missed by tax authorities

The same day, the contents of the case file peine by Judge Santiago Pedraz regarding the hydrocarbons scheme became known. The report points to Aldama and his partner, Claudio Rivas, for a structure designed to avoid declaring VAT, involving €182 million deposited in Portugal, Colombia, and China. Aldama called this "absurd," insisting he has invoices, contracts, and paid taxes that prove otherwise.

However, the figure fits a suspicion running through the affair from the start: if the scheme moved that volume, why did the Tax Agency detect nothing for years? Some argue the answer lies in lax oversight across several ministries. Counter-arguments note the case file is full of errors, including a ship’s name or labeling businessmen as drug traffickers.

Reaction in the studio and subsequent silence

The scene described by those who trinc the interview is telling. Panelists, according to reports, fell silent. Only two asked again to confirm what they had just heard. Aldama replied he had already said it twice. The rest was silence and exchanged glances. Once the businessman had disconnected, one attendee broke the deadlock to call him a liar and a drug user, without giving him a chance to respond.

That contrast—silence during the broadcast, disqualification afterward—is the pattern repeated whenever accusations of this caliber touch government figures. The data is not debated. The messenger is. Meanwhile, the complaint proceeds or doesn’t, which is exactly what no one clarifies.

The precedent no one wants to look at

Comparison with the Gürtel corruption case arises naturally. There, about €120 million stolen was discussed, and defendants were confessed incivil given credibility for years. Here, with hydrocarbons already at €84 million plus mask deals, the messenger is a incivil and addict, thus undeserving of credit. The asymmetry isn’t invented; it lies in how each witness is treated depending on whom they implicate.

One view holds this is all another smokescreen, and that Aldama schemes as a way of life. Another suggests a man collecting evidence at every step isn’t improvising. A third, more uncomfortable, notes the pieces fit: granted hydrocarbon licenses, years without paying billed VAT, and the Tax Agency looking away. If true, the problem isn’t a rushed intermediary.

What could happen next

Aldama demanded the President resign and announced he would keep speaking. The complaint is with the Prosecutor's Office. The Supreme Court and National Court have their own open fronts. The lingering question isn’t whether the figure is exact, but whether anyone will verify it. So far, only the accused has put numbers on the table.