Felipe González on Griñán and his prison sentence: "If I could, I would appoint him to my government again"

• Courts A dozen judges endorsed the institutional corruption of the ERE

• Analysis The three alibis of the PSOE in the 'ERE case', demolished

• The Supreme Court confirms the conviction of Chaves and the imprisonment of Griñán for the ERE case

The former President of the Government Felipe González has published a letter of support for the former President of the Board José Antonio Griñán, after the Supreme Court has ratified his sentence to six years in prison and 12 years of disqualification for prevarication and embezzlement in the case ARE.

González says that the Supreme Court ruling, known on July 26, has filled him with "perplexity and pain."

And despite the fact that the Court's arguments are not yet known, he states that he would count on him again if he had to form a government.

"I do not know the arguments that lead three of the five members of the Court to condemn Pepe Griñán, but I know Pepe Griñán thoroughly. That is why I want to state that if I could appoint him today to form part of a Spanish Government that I presided over, I would do it again".

Griñán was minister with Felipe González for four years, from January 1992 to May 1996, first in the Health portfolio and later in the Labor and Social Security portfolio.

González then defends the reasons why he shows his absolute confidence in the condemned politician: "Because of his competence and intellectual capacity. Because of his vocation for public service throughout his life to improve the lives of the majority and promote coexistence in democracy and freedom. For his impeccable moral integrity".

"That is to say -adds the former president- that my conviction from the knowledge of the person leads me to consider it impossible that he be considered guilty of a crime of embezzlement and, therefore, unjustly sentenced to prison for it".

Despite questioning the ruling, González stresses that his "commitment" to the

has always led him to "abide by the decisions of the courts, particularly those of the Supreme Court."

"When the foundations of the sentence are known, I will respectfully pronounce on them," he concludes.

On July 26, the Supreme Court advanced its ruling on the appeals filed by the defense against the sentence of the

that judged twenty former high-ranking officials of the

, among them the former presidents of the Junta José Antonio Griñán and Manuel Chaves.

Interestingly, in his letter, González does not make any assessment of the conviction of Chaves, who was also his minister, and was also president of the PSOE, like Griñán himself.

Chaves will have to serve

holding public office after considering the accredited Supreme that he committed prevarication in his performance as president of the Board.

In his case, the Prosecutor's Office did not accuse him of embezzlement, which is why his conviction does not carry a prison sentence.

José Antonio Griñán has been judged for the events that occurred as Minister of Economy and Finance, and not as President of the Board, for which his participation has been valued more directly in the preparation of the budgetary tool that allowed systematically diverting public funds outside the ordinary procedures, without any control and for arbitrary purposes.

The Supreme advanced the ruling but the details of the sentence will not be known until September.

It has also been reported that two of the five magistrates that make up the court will issue a separate

in which they will show their disagreement, among other points, with the ratification of the conviction for embezzlement for Griñán and other defendants (specifically

,

,

,

Due to this lack of unanimity within the court, different positions of the PSOE have been accepted to question the ruling.

The pronouncement of the judges was unanimous, however, in reference to the crime of prevarication.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has even said in this regard that "neither Chaves nor Griñán have been convicted and not even accused of personal enrichment or illegal financing of the party."

The argument of the PSOE insists on defending that the former presidents did not take money from the ERE for their personal enjoyment, although at no time was that the accusation.

The thesis of the

supported by the sentences of the Court of Seville and the Supreme Court, is that the money was diverted for electoral purposes and for this, procedures were articulated that allowed the controls to be eluded.

There were also intermediaries who did profit from the aid and the

paid, although they were not tried in this main part of the case.

As EL MUNDO has been counting, up to a dozen judges have endorsed in one way or another the institutional corruption of the Board in the ERE case for the arbitrary and fraudulent use of up to

euros of public funds.

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