Friday, March 29

The ERC amendment calls for lowering the prison sentence for those who do not profit from embezzlement


The reform proposed by Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) to change the crime of embezzlement of public funds establishes that the highest sentences are for those who personally benefit from the crime and sets lower sentences for those who do not. The new wording proposed by the pro-independence party contemplates sentences of up to eight years in prison for the most serious cases, in which there is a “profit motive”, and up to four years in prison for those who divert public funds but are not intended for profit. own self.

ERC seeks to recover the crime of embezzlement that the PP hardened after consulting Artur Mas

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The amendment that the Catalan republicans will present to the government text that reforms sedition, and that is being processed urgently in Congress, thus proposes to modify the crime of embezzlement for which pro-independence leaders of the process such as Oriol Junqueras are convicted, president of ERC, and it is intended to agree with the government forces that have shown themselves to be in favor of this correction. The change in the articles of the crime of embezzlement of public funds recovers the version prior to the reform promoted by the absolute majority of the PP of Mariano Rajoy in 2015, with the opposition of the left. The sedition reform in which this amendment would be included is expected to be approved by the Lower House before the end of the year.

Currently, the basic crime of embezzlement does not differentiate between those who personally profit from the crime and those who do not, and establishes sentences of between two to six years in prison. The new version introduces the subsection “for profit” and maintains those sentences. The most serious version of the crime, for example for holes of more than 250,000 euros in the public treasury, is punishable by up to eight years in prison.

The amendment that ERC will propose to the reform of the crime of sedition, one of the key points of the agreement with the Government so that it can carry out the Budgets with the support of the Republicans, includes a new article 423 bis to punish whoever allocates the money public “for uses unrelated to the public function” with sentences of six months to three years in prison, and up to four years of disqualification. The latter are the sentences for those who embezzle public money without their own benefit. Yes there are “damage or hindering the service to which they were consigned” the prison sentence is the same but the disqualification can reach five years.

ERC political leaders, including President Pere Aragonès, have expressed in recent weeks that after the implementation of the reform of the crime of sedition their intention was to also reform the crime of embezzlement of public funds. This amendment, if translated into a reform of the Criminal Code, would imply benefits for the prisoners of the independence process, although all those who were sentenced to prison terms have already been pardoned and are not in prison.

Neither ERC, nor the central Executive, nor any of the coalition government partners had given clues, for the moment, as to where this reform could be directed, although President Pedro Sánchez had indeed opened the door to the existence of amendments during urgent parliamentary processing of the norm.

The current formulation of the crime comes from a reform designed specifically to penalize episodes such as the consultation of November 9, 2014 in Catalonia, promoted by Artur Mas. Since then, it is enough to prove an improper use of public funds that has caused damage to public assets to be able to condemn for embezzlement. It is what is technically defined as an “unfair administration” of public money by devoting collective resources to inappropriate purposes. Until the entry into force of that reform, embezzlement required that there be “diversion” or “subtraction” of public funds. Sentences for this type of criminal offense can be up to ten years in prison.

It is a reform that can retroactively affect the leaders of the process already convicted by the Supreme Court, although they have already been pardoned and therefore no reduction would have practical effects. But it could affect the procedural future of second-tier charges that are still awaiting trial in other cases, accused among others of this crime.

The alleged embezzlement is key in the macro-cause followed in the trial court 13 of Barcelona against thirty officials and senior officials for the preparations for 1-O and its appendix in the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) by affecting two registered, the deputies and heavyweights of ERC Josep Maria Jové and Lluís Salvadó. It is what is known as the “second row” of the Government, very relevant for Esquerra as it affects some of its cadres.



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