David Sánchez, brother of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, was sentenced yesterday by the Badajoz Court to nine years of disqualification from holding public office and from exercising the right to passive suffrage as the author of a crime of administrative prevarication for having occupied the position of coordinator of the conservatories of the Badajoz Provincial Council which, according to the sentence, was created “tailored to him”.
However, David Sánchez will not have to return the money he earned for that work. Neither will Luis Carrero, David Sánchez’s friend who was hired by the Badajoz Provincial Council in 2023, who has also been sentenced to nine years of disqualification. The sentence, issued yesterday, explains the reasons why the Prime Minister’s brother and Carrero can keep the salaries they received from the Badajoz Provincial Council.
Popular accusations requested civil liability in case of conviction, that is, the return of the salaries received. But the court makes it very clear that this claim can only be made by the injured parties and that popular accusations are not. Thus, the only ones who could have requested the restitution of the funds were the Badajoz Provincial Council or the Public Prosecutor’s Office and they did not do so. The Prosecutor requested the acquittal of David Sánchez and the rest of the accused. And the Provincial Council did not appear as an injured party.
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“Therefore, the claim regarding the return of the salaries obtained by David Sánchez and Luis Carrero could only be exercised by the local entity paying such salaries or by the Public Prosecutor’s Office if it had filed charges,” the ruling states. And the judges of the Badajoz Court add that “for purely polemical purposes, we could not know about such a request either because the corresponding ruling must be reserved for the accounting jurisdiction that belongs to the Court of Auditors.” The judges conclude accordingly: “In short, it is not appropriate to make a ruling on this matter.”
