PSOE, UP and ERC aim to lower penalties for embezzlement without personal enrichment

The zeal with which the PSOE, United We Can (UP) and ERC managed to prevent the proposal to repeal the crime of sedition from being aired publicly ahead of time, is not being fulfilled as much with the change proposed for the crime of embezzlement.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
14 November 2022 Monday 14:32
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PSOE, UP and ERC aim to lower penalties for embezzlement without personal enrichment

The zeal with which the PSOE, United We Can (UP) and ERC managed to prevent the proposal to repeal the crime of sedition from being aired publicly ahead of time, is not being fulfilled as much with the change proposed for the crime of embezzlement. President Pere Aragonès has been the most discreet, but Margarita Robles, Minister of Defence, and Jaume Asens, president of the United We Can parliamentary group, pointed out the idea of ​​distinguishing in the Penal Code the seizure of public funds for himself from embezzlement without profit. The reform in this case would consist of reducing the penalties provided for cases in which there is no personal enrichment or even the possibility of limiting it to disqualification as prevarication is currently punished.

Asens was the clearest. He argued that embezzlement "is a fundamental crime to prosecute corruption and should continue to exist in the Penal Code," but "currently it is a mixed bag." Therefore, for the leader of the confederate group, the question is "to differentiate when there is personal enrichment from when there is not", and that, in his opinion, the condemnatory response cannot be the same for both cases.

Robles went in the same direction. "The corrupt person who takes the money in his pocket is not the same as the one who does not take the money in his pocket." Aragonès, for his part, resorted to the example of the consultation of November 9, 2014, when Artur Mas, Joan Ortega, Irene Rigau and Francesc Homs were not convicted of embezzlement, but of disobedience.

What is sought is to reverse the last reform of 2015 of this crime approved during the government of Mariano Rajoy in which embezzlement was expanded to be able to condemn, not only those who diverted public funds to enrich themselves, but also those who did it to favor third parties.

Now the situation is pending the amendments that may be introduced in the text registered on Friday in Congress on the suppression of the crime of sedition and the modifications in aggravated public disorder. Of the three groups that are leading the changes in the Penal Code, United We Can and Esquerra already intend to present amendments.

Those of Oriol Junqueras will do it to incorporate the changes in embezzlement, while it is certain that UP will do it to try to modify crimes that affect the rights of workers in the Penal Code. The latter would be to clear up doubts about crimes in public disorder. With the proposal announced on Friday, from pro-independence spheres it is considered that the protest is criminalized. The PSOE will wait for the initiative presented by the Republicans.

In any case, the decision to introduce embezzlement reforms has been agreed upon by the three parties for some time. In form, not in substance.

In many cases of corruption, it has been shown that what the politician in question does is benefit a third person, out of friendship and even business. Later, the investigators have to determine if this favoring is rewarded to public office by another means.

In fact, in most cases the embezzled money does not go directly to the politician's pocket, but rather the beneficiary pays it through other mechanisms, such as money abroad.

The idea of ​​linking embezzlement with personal enrichment began to resonate after the confirmation of the conviction by the Supreme Court of former Andalusian president José Antonio Griñán, who was sentenced to six years in prison for a crime of embezzlement in the case of the ERE from Andalusia.

Various socialist leaders have supported his pardon alleging that Griñán did not keep the money diverted from the coffers of the Board to pay for the employment regulation files through items destined for other matters.

In the event that the crime of embezzlement is finally reformed to reduce the penalties in case of not verifying the direct economic benefit of the accused, the former president of the Board could benefit. It must be remembered that if instead of six years his sentence were five years, the Constitutional Court would suspend the execution of his sentence until the appeal is resolved.

In the case of the independence leaders convicted by the procés, they were held responsible for a crime of sedition in medial competition with another of embezzlement. If they manage to eliminate or reduce their sentence for this second crime to a minimum -for using funds from the Generalitat to organize the 1-O referendum-, those convicted would noticeably reduce their years of sentence for disqualification, in addition to facilitating the return of former president Carles Puigdemont.