The Board argues against pardoning Griñán and the rest of those convicted by the ERE because there is no "repentance" and "what was defrauded has not been returned"

Silvia Moreno Seville

Seville

Updated Tuesday, February 20, 2024-10:51

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This Tuesday, the Andalusian Government will present a document before the Seville Court on the

pardons

requested by the former president of the Andalusian Government

José Antonio Griñán

and six other former Andalusian senior officials sentenced

to prison terms in the ERE

corruption

case. This is one more procedure in the file on the grace measure that the First Section of the Court is preparing. When it is complete, it will be sent to the Government of Pedro Sánchez, who must make the decision. The reports are mandatory, but

not binding

.

As an "injured party", the Andalusian Government will argue against the pardons because

"there is no repentance"

among the eight convicted former Andalusian senior officials from the PSOE era and "the defrauded money has not been returned", which amounts to

679 million

euros. That amount is the sum that the Andalusian PSOE government distributed for a decade to supposed companies in crisis in a

clientelist and opaque

manner .

The Minister of Justice, Local Administration and Public Function,

José Antonio Nieto

, in an interview on Canal Sur Television reported by

Europa Press

, pointed out this Tuesday that the Andalusian Government does not take a position on pardons because it does not want to address this issue

" a political weapon

. "

However, in its writing before the Court, the Board does emphasize that there are "

weaknesses

in the request" for pardon, since there is no repentance or return of the defrauded amounts, according to Nieto. To date, the Board has initiated the claim for

70 million

euros, 10% of the total, thanks to the fact that the final rulings that have been issued are guaranteeing that the Board can claim the refund, according to the counselor.

Nieto has been "pessimistic" regarding being able to recover a large part of what was defrauded since many of the defendants are declaring themselves

insolvent

.

The former senior officials who have asked for pardon are, in addition to Griñán, the former Minister of the Treasury

Carmen Martín Aguayo

, the former Minister of Innovation,

Francisco Vallejo

, the former Ministers of Employment

José Antonio Viera

and

Antonio Fernández

, the former Vice-Minister of the same department,

Agustín Barberá

, the former general director of the IDEA agency,

Miguel Ángel Serrano

, the former general director of Labor

Juan Márquez

and the former deputy minister of Innovation,

Jesús María Rodríguez Román

. All of them, except Griñán and Márquez, are in prison serving their sentences. Márquez's pardon is being processed by the Supreme Court, instead of the Court, because the high court reduced his sentence.

six years in prison

Meanwhile, this Monday, the defense of former president Griñán has appealed the ruling of the First Section of the Court that asks the Board to report on the requests for pardon of the eight sentenced to prison by the ERE. As EL MUNDO has been reporting, the Court made this decision after the Prosecutor's Office, instead of reporting for or against the pardons, asked it to transfer this matter to the Board because it is the only one

harmed

by this case. of corruption.

Griñán was sentenced to six years in prison for embezzlement, but he did not go to prison because the Court suspended the sentence for five years due to the prostate cancer he suffers from. The appeal by Griñán's defense, as reported by Europa Press, requests that the Junta not be a party, since the prison sentence imposed on the former Andalusian president does not include damage or conviction for

civil liability

.

In addition, the

"serious" medical situation

of the former president of the Board is appealed. However, the Minister of Justice recalled that this situation of illness is "suffered by other convicts." One of them is the former Deputy Minister of Employment

Agustín Barberá

, whose family launched a desperate SOS in April 2023 to try to ensure that he spends as little time as possible in prison, since he has been suffering from

cancer

for more than five years. On April 7, 2023, Barberá entered the Puerto III prison in the Cadiz municipality of El Puerto de Santa María to serve the seven-year sentence imposed by Justice for the ERE case.