Spain: what is Manos Limpias, the pseudo-union which denounced the wife of Pedro Sánchez?

The complaint that led to the opening of an investigation by the 41st Court of Madrid into Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, for alleged influence peddling and corruption in business, comes from a collective representing public sector employees, Manos Limpias (Clean Hands in French). Presenting itself on its website as a “national, independent union, not mortgaged by anything or anyone”, its main function is to file “all kinds of complaints, in the face of political or economic corruption which harms the public or general interest.

The leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) shared a letter on Wednesday on X (formerly Twitter), in which he denounces a complaint based on "alleged information coming from a constellation of ultra-conservative newspapers." In response to this letter, the president of Manos Limpias, Miguel Bernad, issued a statement in which he admitted having based the complaint “only on these [journalistic] reports” and that therefore they may be false, the newspaper revealed on Thursday El País. “It will now be up to the investigating judge to verify whether these journalistic reports are true or not,” admits Bernad in his statement, quoted by the Spanish daily. “If they are not true, it will be up to those who published them to consider that they are false, but if they are not false, we believe that the legal procedure must continue,” he adds.

Late Thursday afternoon, the Spanish public prosecutor's office finally requested the "cancellation" of the procedure opened on April 16 by a court in Madrid and "the dismissal of the case."

Founded by Miguel Bernad, a former politician with close ties to the far right, the self-proclaimed union has long pursued numerous targets and in particular political leaders - especially on the left - in court, but often without much success.

After its creation in 1995, the collective filed numerous legal actions, sometimes high-profile, which were considered failures. In 2005, a complaint filed against “Los Lunnis”, a children's show broadcast on Spanish television, for showing a marriage between two men, was for example dismissed. Furthermore, in 2007, Manos Limpias was investigated for the crime of false denunciation after he filed a complaint against judge Juan del Olmo, as well as against prosecutor Olga Sánchez, whom he accused of having destroyed evidence in the terrorist attack of March 11, 2004 in Madrid.

But his intervention in the Noós political corruption case, opened in 2012 against the leaders of the Nóos Institute, Iñaki Urdangarin and Diego Torres, initially restored his image. Manos Limpias was the only association to lobby for the sister of King Felipe VI - and wife of Iñaki Urdangarin - Cristina de Borbón, to be indicted. The success, however, was short-lived. Miguel Bernad was arrested in 2016 on suspicion of demanding money from the defense of Infanta Cristina in exchange for the withdrawal of their complaint against him. He remained in pre-trial detention for eight months. Cristina de Borbón was finally released in 2017.

Accused in July 2021 of having cooperated with the president of Ausbanc Luis Pineda, in order to extort banks and companies, Miguel Bernad was sentenced at first instance to four years in prison. He was finally acquitted on appeal last March, for lack of evidence, according to the Supreme Court.

This did not prevent him from continuing his activities. The government of Pedro Sánchez has even become one of his favorite targets. In January 2023, the collective, for example, filed a complaint - later closed without further action - against the Minister of Equality Irene Montero who had criticized judges for the application of the law against sexual violence "only yes is Yes".