The investigation commission for the purchases of health equipment made during the pandemic that will be launched next Monday in Congress will not, finally, have any of the prosecutors included in the list of 134 appearing after both Margarita Robles contested, separately , the appeals approved, paradoxically, with the votes of the PSOE.
The Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts alleged that it makes “no sense” for judges or prosecutors, as is the case of the chief prosecutor of Anticorruption, Alejandro Luzón, to testify before investigative commissions “on causes they are knowing”. While the Minister of Defense added that “it is not the most appropriate procedure because they have their work to do”.
Two arguments almost identical to those expressed 24 hours earlier by the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, who understands that the appearances could disrupt the work of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in its exercise of public criminal action.
The unrest exploded, the first vice-president of the central government, María Jesús Montero, tried to soften the clash between Moncloa and the socialist parliamentary group, clarifying that it had not been “the vocation of the PSOE” to summon the prosecutors to the commission for what is known as the Koldo case , but that its inclusion in the list was the result of negotiations held with the block of investment partners to approve a “consensus” list.
More specifically with EH Bildu and Junts, who, in addition to Luzón, requested the appearances of Ignacio de Lucas, prosecutor of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, and Laura Codruta Kövesi, chief prosecutor of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Despite the uproar generated by the warnings of Bolaños and Robles, Junts’ position did not surprise either the PSOE or the central government, since the agreement that the two formations sealed for the investiture of the president of the Spanish government , Pedro Sánchez, endorsed the express request of those of Carles Puigdemont to open investigative commissions in the Lower House that could subject to investigation the behavior of some members of the judiciary.
In any case, the names of Luzón, Lucas and Köves will finally be removed from the list of those appearing.
It will probably be during the next session of the commission since, since it is not an irregularity as such, it must be the same body that approved the work plan that votes to reject any subpoena or documentation.
The exclusion of the three prosecutors will not be automatic. Although it is taken for granted, since, even if EH Bildu and Junts refused or expressed their disagreement, the PSOE would count, at least on this specific point, with the support of the Popular Party. That is why it is not expected that the calendar of appearances that will be inaugurated on Monday by the president of the Court of Auditors, Enriqueta Chicano, and the former Minister of Health and PSC candidate for the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, will be altered.
Having established the collision in the socialist ranks, Alberto Núñez Feijóo did not waste the opportunity and charged the President of the Government while reminding him of his commitment not to accept that no prosecutor or judge should not appear in commissions research in Congress. The leader of the opposition described it as “regrettable” that the PSOE acceded to the claims of “a series of deputies who want to discredit the operation of the State Prosecutor’s Office” or “insult the judges and eliminate the State of right”. “You can’t govern like this”, he warned.
For Feijóo, yesterday was another proof that “the word” of Pedro Sánchez “has no value” and he accused the leader of the Central Executive of trying to distract attention from the Koldo case with artifices that that Spain lives “in a constant and continuous democratic anomaly”.
