Guardia Civil report finds 'decisive arbitrariness' in Red.es contracts awarded to businessman linked to Begoña Gómez case
A Guardia Civil report reveals that the public entity Red.es manipulated tender scores to benefit Juan Carlos Barrabés, the businessman for whom Begoña Gómez, wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, wrote recommendation letters.
The UCO report
The Unidad Central Operativa (UCO) of the Guardia Civil has delivered a report to judge Juan Carlos Peinado documenting "decisive arbitrariness" in the award of two Red.es contracts worth a combined 10 million euros. The report, originally sent to the European Public Prosecutor's Office on 26 February 2026, analyses internal emails from 13 Red.es employees and concludes that the evaluation process was systematically manipulated to favour the joint venture UTE The Valley-Barrabés.
Score manipulation
Investigators found that evaluators did not apply pre-established criteria uniformly. Instead, they "marked certain guidelines or imposed specific scores to which the textual assessment was then adapted," the report states. Additional adjustments were made to mask the changes, including downward revisions of scores for offers that had been rated similarly to the main competitor, only for that reconsideration to be ignored in the final, more significant reduction of that bidder's score.
Emails reveal intent
Internal communications show a clear intention to benefit Barrabés. One evaluator wrote:
("Think that Barrabés is the good one and the others have to go down, no matter what"). Another message asked: "What does it matter if it's an 8 or a 6, if they won't have a chance," while a third noted: "I'm trying to change the highest scores to lower them." In one file, the decision was made to hide that Barrabés' offer did not include a required White Paper: "I wouldn't put this so that the other bidders don't know he hasn't included a White Paper as such."Piensa en que Barrabés es la buena y las demás han de bajar sí o sí
Legal proceedings
Judge Peinado recently opened a separate piece of the Begoña Gómez case after the Audiencia Nacional forced the European Prosecutor's Office to close its investigation into certain contracts. On 19 June, the judge clarified that Barrabés is the sole defendant in this branch, facing potential charges of prevarication and fraud against the EU's financial interests. Barrabés had appeared in court on 15 June.
- UCO sends report on Red.es contracts to the European Public Prosecutor's Office
- Juan Carlos Barrabés appears in court in Madrid
- Judge Peinado clarifies Barrabés is the sole defendant in this branch of the case
- Media publish details of the UCO report revealing score manipulation and favouritism
Broader context
The contracts under scrutiny are part of a wider probe into whether Begoña Gómez used her position to favour Barrabés, who helped her set up a university chair at the Complutense. The UCO report states that "the UTE The Valley-Barrabés turns out to be the bidder most benefited by the arbitrariness that conditions the entire assessment of criteria subject to value judgments." The case continues to generate political fallout in Spain.
