Álvaro García Ortiz is clear that He is not going to cease as State Attorney General. This Thursday, the highest representative of the institution brought together the Board of Chamber Prosecutors (made up of the career leadership) and also the Fiscal Council to make it clear to them that doesn’t step aside after an investigation was opened against him in the Supreme Court. The attorney general defended his thesis before the two bodies, but was met with many critical voices to this decision, mainly because of the reputational damage what it can cause them.
At this moment, García Ortiz has at his side the Progressive Union of Prosecutors (UPF) – of which he is related – and also his clique at the top of the Prosecutor’s Office. This is a key support for the attorney general at a time especially delicate given that Dissenting voices seem to be increasing. In fact, the Board of Court Prosecutors evidenced a split in relation to the continuity of its highest representative. Although García Ortiz summoned them exclusively to inform them of his decision, several prosecutors took the floor to express their opinions.
His predecessor in office, Dolores Delgadoor the chief prosecutor of the Constitutional Court, Pedro Crespor, were some of the 30 prosecutors present who defended him. The thesis of this group is that García Ortiz did not commit crime of revelation of secrets nor with the informative note about Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s partner, nor with internal emails that served as the basis for its elaboration. Based on this thesis, there would be no reason for him to leave his position, since his actions responded, precisely, to an attempt to defend the image of the Fiscal Ministry.
Reputational damage to the Prosecutor’s Office
In that sense, they support the opinion of the attorney general that a statement was issued about the investigation against Alberto Rodríguez Amador for deny a hoax that affected the image of the Public Ministry. The epicenter of the controversy is found in information published on the night of March 13, within the framework of which it was noted that the Prosecutor’s Office had offered a consent to the Madrid president’s partner. In order to demonstrate that It was he who recognized the facts and asked the Prosecutor’s Office for an agreement, García Ortiz decided to collect all the emails exchanged between the prosecutor in the case and the businessman’s lawyer and write a statement.
This note included a chronological account of all the proceedings carried out in the Prosecutor’s Office as a result of the emails exchanged between the parties. Both the Illustrious Bar Association of Madrid as Rodríguez Amador himself put these facts in knowledge of Justice considering that the note revealed secret information and that, in addition, the Prosecutor’s Office would be responsible for the internal communications being leaked to the press. This is so because the attorney general requested all these messages the same night that he learned of the alleged pact proposal.
From there, proceedings were opened in the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid. that have ended up in the Supreme Court after García Ortiz recognized that he gave the orders to spread the statement. The Criminal Chamber – which opens a case with unanimity of all its members – does not focus so much on said note, as on the leak of the emails that until the night of March 13 had remained hidden. Additionally, please note that this disclosure may have harmed the right to the presumption of innocence of González Amador, given that he is involved in criminal proceedings for two tax crimes.
“This is not a plebiscite”
The tax sources consulted by Vozpópuli They assure that those close to García Ortiz even They questioned the basis of the order of the Supreme Court and predicted that this instruction It will be fast and will end up in a file. However, other members of the Prosecutor’s Office leadership focused on the image of the institution. For this sector – which was made up of nearly a dozen prosecutors – the fact that the State Attorney General is a person investigated in a criminal case means a whiplash that damages the image to the extreme of the entire career.
Some even expressed their concern and fear that the cause is prolongedsince there are still proceedings to be carried out, with the reputational damage that this entails. In addition, they warned that it seriously damages the appearance of impartiality of the Prosecutor’s Office the fact that García Ortiz continues to head it, since This organ is part of the cause. And not only that, but the Public Ministry leads accusations in dozens of procedures (such as the Koldo case or the case against the brother of the President of the Government) and it is detrimental to his image that the person giving the orders is being investigated in another criminal process.
In relation to Fiscal Council (which, unlike the Board of Prosecutors, is chosen by the race by elections) the result was different. Seven of its twelve members (the six of the majority Association of Prosecutors and APIF) they asked him to stop also with the focus on reputational damage. “We find it absolutely unaffordable the impact produced inside and outside our borders by the image of a Public Prosecutor’s Office led by an accused State Attorney General. There cannot be a more serious consequence,” the members of the AF stated in a statement after the conclave.
However, the attorney general made it clear in both meetings that the meetings he himself called They were not a plebiscitebut the decision had been made. He alleged that he had reflected a lot on this situation and that, given that he acted to defend the image of the institution he leads, the conclusion adopted was not to resign. His goal with the note, he said, was to offer truthful information to citizensand the aforementioned emails were already published in the press.
This is a criterion refuted by more and more race members who await with concern the next action of the Supreme Court in this case and the position adopted by the Prosecutor’s Office in it; since it is especially committed.
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