The Andalusian Government criticizes Griñán's pardon request based on reasons of "humanity"

The family of the former president of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Griñán, sentenced to nine years in prison for committing an embezzlement crime and another 15 years of disqualification for a crime of prevarication in the case of the ERE, has advanced that it will ask for pardon partial for the socialist politician alleging his "irreproachable life trajectory characterized by his fight for Democracy".

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
18 August 2022 Thursday 18:31
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The Andalusian Government criticizes Griñán's pardon request based on reasons of "humanity"

The family of the former president of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Griñán, sentenced to nine years in prison for committing an embezzlement crime and another 15 years of disqualification for a crime of prevarication in the case of the ERE, has advanced that it will ask for pardon partial for the socialist politician alleging his "irreproachable life trajectory characterized by his fight for Democracy".

The announcement of the strategy comes a month after the ruling of the Supreme Court regarding this macro-case was known, where Manuel Chaves, Griñán's predecessor in the San Telmo Palace, was also sentenced for a crime of prevarication. The determination of the TS was not unanimous. With three votes in favor and two against, the verdict generated some controversy.

For its part, the Andalusian government, led by the popular Juanma Moreno, has been slow to assess the strategy of Griñán's wife, María Teresa Caravaca, and her son, Manuel Griñán. It has been the Minister of Justice, Local Administration and Public Function, José Antonio Nieto, who has asserted that "the day it is assumed that it has been a very serious error in the management of the Board and of who governed, it will be in a position to think in the humanitarian.

Let us remember that under the Employment Regulation Files (ERE) a fraudulent framework of social and labor aid was created that caused a hole of 680 million euros in the public coffers between 2000 and 2011.

Griñán's family insists that the former community leader "has never received any remuneration other than his official salary" and highlights as an "unfortunate irony" his conviction for embezzlement (a crime for which he would serve a sentence in prison) based on in that "throughout his life he has precisely made professional and economic honesty his main value", according to the draft of the petition advanced today by 'El Confidencial'.

In the text, where Griñán's accounts and assets are accounted for, the "prudent" and "discreet" attitude that the former president has maintained throughout the judicial process of the ERE is highlighted, an issue that has dragged on for more of a decade, and insists that they will request this measure of grace for "reasons of humanity and equity", pointing out the "permanent psychological and moral deterioration" that the former leader has been suffering during this time.

On the other hand, the wife and son allege to defend the pardon that there is "a lack of proportionality of the sanction", that the processing of the case is extended for a "long period of time" and that the notification of the decision of the Supreme Court, without having access to the sentence to see the reasons for it, subjects him to "a public condemnation against which, strictly speaking, no answer can be given."

The petition will be presented after the publication of the Supreme Court ruling (predictably in September) before the Ministry of Justice, and will have the support signature of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Felipe González, both former presidents of the country, among others.

It has been the Minister of Justice, Local Administration and Public Function of the Junta de Andalucía, José Antonio Nieto, who has assessed the announcement of the request for partial pardon by Griñán's family.

In statements to Canal Sur, Nieto has defended that "the day it is assumed that it has been a very serious error in the management of the Board and of who governed, it is in a position to think about humanitarian issues."

"It is time" for the PSOE to "change its attitude", he declared, since "there are people who today continue to deny that there was a plot that gave rise to the loss, or misuse, or criminal use of more than 1,000 million euros in Andalusia". "By action or omission, that responsibility belongs to the person who ruled at that time in the Andalusian Government", added Nieto, who has demanded "respect" for the work of Justice that, in this specific case, in his opinion, he has been "meticulous".