Griñán's defense points out that "he is not a corrupt politician" and rejects the Prosecutor's request

Although the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the private accusation brought by the PP requested the Provincial Court of Seville to immediately imprison the former president of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Griñán, based on his conviction for the ERE case , the defense requests that the sentence "neither immediate nor automatic" be executed, based on exceptional assumptions for it.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
07 November 2022 Monday 06:32
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Griñán's defense points out that "he is not a corrupt politician" and rejects the Prosecutor's request

Although the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the private accusation brought by the PP requested the Provincial Court of Seville to immediately imprison the former president of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Griñán, based on his conviction for the ERE case , the defense requests that the sentence "neither immediate nor automatic" be executed, based on exceptional assumptions for it.

The lawyer, in a letter addressed to the Court, maintains that Griñán "is not a corrupt politician, in the sense that one wants to give that disqualifying adjective" and points out both the age of the convicted person (76 years) and that this sentence is " the only sentence” that the ex-politician has “in his entire life” to avoid going to jail.

With these arguments, and as a preliminary step to the execution of the sentence, the Court has today sent a letter to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the PP, which exercises the private prosecution in the case of the ERE, in which it gives them a period of three days for them to rule on the imprisonment of former Andalusian President José Antonio Griñán.

Griñán's defense attorney has pointed out that his client "is not a corrupt politician, in the sense that you want to give that disqualifying adjective, including the broadest possible, it is evidence, a notorious fact, known to all and that hardly could go unnoticed by a specialized prosecutor's office, used to knowing corrupt politicians," he says.

Likewise, it understands that the "high-sounding mentions of political corruption in the Prosecutor's report are manifestly inappropriate to be applied" to Griñán, thus responding to the text of the Prosecutor's Office that argues that it is "one more form of political corruption" when analyzes the typicity of embezzlement. The sentences, defended Anticorruption, "cry out to be fulfilled."

On the other hand, in the letter sent to Seville, the "impeccable record of services as a public servant" of the former socialist leader is expressed, as well as the support for the petition for pardon with more than 4,000 signatures of support.

Not only the defense of Griñán, but also the other seven high-ranking officials sentenced to prison in the framework of the political piece of the ERE, among which are the former Minister of Finance Carmen Martínez Aguayo, the former Minister of Innovation Francisco Vallejo, the former Minister of Employment and Technological Development José Antonio Viera, the former Minister of Employment Antonio Fernández, the former director of the IDEA agency Miguel Ángel Serrano, the former General Director of Labor Juan Márquez, the former Deputy Minister of Innovation Jesús María Rodríguez Román and the former General Director of Budgets of the Board Vicente Lozano, have sent similar letters to the Justice of Seville requesting the stay of the execution based on the incidents of annulment filed in the Supreme Court as well as the process of requesting pardon before the Government that still remains unresolved.

Let us remember that it was the Supreme Court that ratified their convictions in September. Specifically, the former Andalusian president was played for committing a crime of embezzlement and sentenced to 6 years in prison for his participation in the ERE, a fraudulent system of granting aid to companies and workers, which caused a hole of almost 700 million euros in public coffers. Manuel Chaves, former regional president, was also sentenced, although on this occasion the crime charged is prevarication, thus avoiding entering prison.

All those accused with prison sentences, with Griñán at the head, have requested, in an attempt to paralyze the execution of the sentence, a pardon from the Ministry of Justice. In the case of the former president, it was his family who registered the petition with the ministry on September 1, a request that has been supported by more than 4,000 personalities from different fields. The process has not yet been resolved, forming another defense strategy to prevent the socialist from entering jail.

The lawyer, on the other hand, presented an incident of annulment against the sentence before the Supreme Court and, on the other hand, the Constitutional route remains, where it could be argued that some fundamental right has been violated throughout this case to request the total or partial suspension of the execution of the sentence.