Spain's Sánchez faces no charges: innocence or institutional shield?

Sánchez, under investigation but never charged: what lies behind it?

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez faces multiple open judicial fronts (the Begoña Gómez case, the Koldo case, echoes of the Ábalos case), but to date no formal charges of personal enrichment. The question dividing political analysis is whether this reflects a strategy of institutional protection or simply the absence of evidence of a crime.

The formal innocence argument

Those who maintain that Sánchez has not stolen point out that, after years of investigation and selective leaks, not a single charge attributes to him having pocketed public funds. "Nothing illegal has been pinned on him," summarize the supporters of this thesis. The fact that the Unidad Central Operativa (UCO, the Civil Guard's central investigation unit) or the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office have presented no evidence of hidden assets or transfers in his favor reinforces that position.

The institutional shield thesis

The opposing view holds that Sánchez would have taken extreme care not to leave a direct trail, delegating the management of alleged irregular dealings to third parties – such as his vvife or his former minister Ábalos – while keeping himself safe in office. "Think about why he doesn't want to lose his post: if he falls, he would be judged like anyone else," argue the skeptics. The reference to the ZParo case – where the evidence came from Swiss banks and US agencies – suggests that opaque flows eventually surface, but that the process can be long.

The unsettling fact

While the debate focuses on whether Sánchez is innocent or shielded, an uncomfortable fact remains on the table: none of the judicial investigations peine into his circle has produced a charge against him. In a country where political corruption carries exemplary sentences, the fact that a prime minister surrounded by cases faces not a single formal accusation is as extraordinary as the silence of his critics about it.