David Sánchez and Miguel Ángel Gallardo will not be able to work for the administration or run for any type of elections until at least the year 2035. The Badajoz Court sentenced yesterday the brother of the Prime Minister to nine years of disqualification from public employment or office and from exercising the right to passive suffrage, and the former president of the Badajoz Provincial Council and former secretary general of the Extremaduran PSOE to respective sentences of nine years of disqualification for having created a coordinator position for conservatories for David Sánchez as a “tailor-made suit” according to the ruling.
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Other nine people have also been sentenced to disqualification, mostly officials of the Badajoz Provincial Council, because “they were not unaware of the criminal plan devised by the highest authorities” of the entity and because “they acted in concert, in connivance, executing a preconceived plan, with unity of action, to contrive the creation of an unnecessary and content-empty public employment position granting said post to David Sánchez with opacity and irregularities.”
The Prime Minister’s brother and the rest of the accused are acquitted of the crime of influence peddling
The ruling, issued yesterday, addresses the three issues analyzed during the trial held in early June: The creation of David Sánchez’s position as coordinator of the Badajoz conservatories in 2017. The change of that position to director of the Performing Arts Office in 2022. And the creation of another coordinator position for Cross-Border Centers and Activities in 2023 for Luis Carrero, a friend of David Sánchez.
Regarding the coordinator position of the conservatories for David Sánchez in 2017, the court, which issued the verdict unanimously, considers proven that prior to David Sánchez’s arrival, the functions of this position were carried out by “conservatory teachers in their free hours and without receiving any extra pay for it.”
The ruling states in the proven facts section that in May 2017, “David Sánchez was unemployed, having completed a master’s degree in Milan after a stay in Saint Petersburg.” That at that time his position was devised and that by then, “many people attached to the conservatories and the Provincial Council were already commenting that the job would be awarded to David Sánchez, nicknamed el hermanísimo.”
The judges also conclude that this position was unnecessary and that David Sánchez, who is a musician, was not going to work: “Since his hiring, Mr. Sánchez barely attended his workplace, justifying it by saying he did not feel tied to any physical location and did not fulfill the work obligations he had committed to.” The ruling adds that the Prime Minister’s brother only conducted the orchestra, which was one of his duties, “on five occasions during all the years he worked in Badajoz.”
Regarding the change of position, from coordinator of the conservatories to director of the Performing Arts Office in 2022, the ruling establishes that “they sought a way to adapt the duties assigned to Mr. Sánchez to his personal tastes and interests.” To carry out this position transformation, an “irregularity” was committed by removing the incompatibility in his new contract, despite incompatibility being mandatory by law.
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The court also holds that the position created in 2023 for Luis Carrero, a friend of David Sánchez, was fictitious, as it was “a position empty of effective content,” which was granted to Carrero, who “previously maintained a close personal relationship with Mr. David,” even addressing each other in their communications as “little brother.”
For all these reasons, the Badajoz Court condemns David Sánchez and the rest of the accused for a crime of administrative malfeasance provided for in article 404 of the Penal Code, which punishes with disqualification from holding public office for between nine and 15 years “the authority or public official who, knowingly unjust, issues an arbitrary resolution in an administrative matter.”
David Sánchez is not a public official, but the court considers that he must also be convicted as “extraneus” under the technical figure of “necessary cooperation.” The ruling clarifies that, although malfeasance is a crime that only authorities or officials can “commit,” private individuals can be responsible in some cases when “they collaborate with the direct perpetrator by providing conduct without which the crime would not have been committed.”
The Prime Minister’s brother and the rest of the accused are acquitted of the crime of influence peddling promoted by the popular accusations that requested up to six years in prison and for which they were also tried due to “the lack of solid evidence demonstrating that real pressure was exerted or an abuse of hierarchical position to issue arbitrary resolutions.” The prosecution defended the acquittal.
The ruling, which is not final and can be appealed within ten days before the Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura, contemplates that the convicted assume the part of the costs corresponding to the crime of malfeasance, which will be prorated among them, with Gallardo being assigned “two twelfths of said half” and the rest of the accused “one twelfth each.”
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