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Elena Sánchez, interim president of RTVE, is having a complicated position in the Public Corporation. Last Thursday he faced his first Extraordinary Council, the first to which the counselors summoned him and, as EL MUNDO has been able to know and this has been confirmed by several of the RTVE unions, it was a more than tense meeting. So much so that Sánchez canceled and postponed one of the votes on the agenda for fear that he could not move forward and would be left without any support, which would show his weakness in the presidency of the entity.

There were only two points: the selection process of the new HR director after the resignation on February 15 of Pablo Galán in full call for oppositions to the entity, and the controversial 'forensic' report, a report commissioned to an external audit on certain expenses of some managers during the time of José Manuel López Tornero, former president of the Corporation.

As explained to EL MUNDO, Elena Sánchez resisted this Extraordinary Council for days, since she was afraid of losing the vote for the selection of Galán's replacement. The result of this first point was the paralysis of the selection process of the new HR director until more knowledge of it was obtained.

"The person who currently has to direct HR must be someone from the house because we have opened some very complicated processes such as oppositions, the 35-hour day, union elections at the end of the year and many others," says Miguel Ángel Curieses Gaite, general secretary of UGT in CRTVE. "It has to be someone who knows what's out there. It is not the best time for someone from outside to come. The problem is that with the selection process that Elena Sánchez has presented, no one from the house meets the conditions because the conditions are made ad hoc for someone from outside, "he adds. A complaint also shared by the Independent Union of Communication and Dissemination (SI) and a good part of the councilors who speak of a "tailor-made" selection.

The specifications presented by the president for this selection, among many other points, require that the person who will replace Galán has a high level of English, something that the unions consider "unnecessary", since "the job of an HR director is negotiation and contact with unions and workers". A second condition is that you have signed at least one agreement, another requirement that is not understood from the house, since "there are HR people from RTVE who have worked in the negotiations of agreements, but have not signed it and, therefore, do not comply with the requirement, although they would be equally qualified. " And, finally, that he has been in the direction of HR H for at least 5 years, another point that they consider impossible to fulfill by someone in the house.

They assure that before the protests of the Board of Directors, Elena Sánchez verified the weakness in which she finds herself and at the same time, they affirm, she showed enough contempt towards the Board of the Public Corporation. Thus, seeing the reaction and tension that was generated in the extraordinary meeting, the interim president decided to paralyze the selection process "because otherwise she would lose."

Given this, several unions and several directors present last Thursday denounce that the intention of the general direction of RTVE is to appoint an HR director "who have a name and surname" without there being any possibility that the chosen one is from within RTVE.

"We do not understand that with the talent that is in the house, that there are 6,500 workers, they are looking for and preparing a selection to be someone from outside. It is not only serious this, it is that we suspect that you are thinking about a specific person. It shocks us," says UGT.

What most worries several councilors and unions is that RTVE is still without an HR director in the middle of the preparation of the expected oppositions for RTVE positions. They claim and, as they have made it known to Elena Sánchez, of which they assure is "against the ropes" is that the selection process is internal: "I would have to look for an interim HR direction because if there is an interim president an interim HR director would have to be elected so that when the situation of this presidency is resolved, the one who arrives can form his trusted team. " A CRTVE HR director has no limitation on the position.

The controversial 'forensic' report

The second point of the Extraordinary Council added even more discomfort among the councilors. Some say that Elena Sánchez's explanations about the 'forensic' report are "lies" and ask that if an external audit has been requested to investigate certain expenses of managers of the time of Tornero, the one of all the directors be investigated and not only of the time that Tornero was president of RTVE.

Last December the General Intervention of the State Administration (IGAE) delivered to RTVE a report in which expenses of more than 11,000 euros were indicated by its former president and some of its directors that had not been justified in the appropriate way.

As a result of this report, the corporation tendered a 'forensic' report to an external company to investigate the invoices presented by these managers and conclude whether or not they fell within the law. And here is the problem and what has caused a strong division of the CRTVE Board of Directors. Elena Sánchez is reproached, on the one hand, for commissioning this report behind the back of the Council, and, on the other, for having been requested only to go against Tornero and against two of his directors when the issue of expenses affects dozens of managers.

Elena Sánchez said last Thursday that she did not know that it had been commissioned and who had commissioned it, but sources familiar with this report affirm that it was commissioned from the corporate direction of RTVE, commanded by Marta Torralvo.

"The Audit and Compliance Committee -commanded by the counselor Juan José Baños (appointed by the PNV) and of which Carmen Sastre (appointed by the PP), Concepción Cascajosa (PSOE), Roberto Lakidain (Podemos) and Ramón Colom are part- shows its surprise that a process of this type was initiated without the knowledge, and, therefore, authorization, of the interim presidency, without an express report from the legal advice and with a certain opinion of the State Advocacy, whose basis is not recorded. For all these reasons, the Audit and Compliance Committee will request the two directorates dependent on such a body, toinvestigate the methodology followed for the process object of this communication, "said the Committee a few weeks ago, which also considers that the forensic report "sets a precedent in RTVE with risks difficult to evaluate".

The division in the Board of Directors before the selection process of the HR director and the 'forensic' report has placed Elena Sánchez in a difficult position to sustain, according to sources close to it. A part of the board, and this was made visible last Thursday, believes that the directors indicated in the report should return the money from said expenses, while another considers that this report has been requested with a single intention: to target Tornero and certain managers.

On March 30, the Board of Directors meets again in ordinary session and it is expected that these issues that have caused more than discomfort in the Council and among the unions will be put back on the table. In addition, as EL MUNDO has learned, the complaint filed with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office for bribery against the director of Sports, Arsenio Cañada, and the director of Teledeporte, Francisco Javier Javier, for "covert advertising" by dressing all RTVE presenters and collaborators with El Ganso clothes during the coverage of the Qatar World Cup without the knowledge of CRTVE.

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