Whatever the outcome of the investigation opened against the state attorney general Álvaro Garcia Ortiz for an alleged offense of revealing secrets, it is obvious that the number one in the public prosecutor’s office can no longer hold his position if he is suspected of having committed an offense.
The decision to open a case against the prosecutor was adopted by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court unanimously and on the basis of the alleged dissemination of data related to an investigation into crimes of tax evasion and falsification of documents against Alberto Gonzalez Amadorboyfriend of Isabel Diaz Ayuso.
The crime attributed to the Attorney General is that contemplated in article 417 of the Penal Code, which punishes the authority or public official who reveals secrets or information of which he is aware by reason of his employment or function and which must not be disclosed.
Álvaro García Ortiz does not lack arguments in his defense. Firstly because to be found guilty of the offense of revealing secrets, it will first be necessary to prove that he is the author of the leak of the information. Something that is not obvious today.
Secondly, because the prosecutor can still assert that his intention was not to intervene in the negotiation process between Ayuso’s friend and the public prosecutor to the detriment of the former. But, precisely, to deny the accusations made by certain media in this direction and which he described as “hoaxes”.
Third, because Alberto González Amador was not just any ordinary individual, but someone who benefited from the support of the Community of Madrid. And the proof is the press conference that Ayuso gave in his defense in March this year.
It is in any case inexplicable that the Attorney General of the State, whose main function as the highest representative of the public prosecutor’s office is the defense of legality, found no other way to deny these accusations than to disseminate the negotiations of an individual involved in economic crimes. Prosecutor.
The offense of revealing secrets also affects an essential element of the State’s relationship with citizens, that of respect for their private lives. This forced the Attorney General to take extreme care to protect the injured legal property, in this case that of González Amador’s right to defense..
A basic understanding of the principle of political responsibility therefore obliges García Ortiz to resign from his post.. For two reasons, since the government cannot fire him.
In short, it would be totally abnormal for the Attorney General to continue to exercise his functions while he is the subject of an investigation by the Supreme Court.
Álvaro García Ortiz has already announced that he refuses to resign, arguing that it is “the most prudent thing for the institution”. EL ESPAÑOL believes, however, that the most prudent thing for the institution of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is precisely his resignation.
Álvaro García Ortiz must be aware, as the Association of Prosecutors defended this Wednesday, that the rules of the prosecutor’s career provides for the possibility of dismissing a prosecutor from office in the event of criminal proceedings against him, in order to preserve the appearance of impartiality and honesty of the institution.
And what appearance of impartiality can an attorney general under investigation have?
The shadow of suspicion that hangs over the Attorney General cannot harm the Spanish people. In the political domain, the principle of in dubio pro reo This must work in favor of citizens, who do not have to put up with a prosecutor general being suspected.
An unwritten rule of Spanish democracy also says that senior officials of the government and the rest of public administrations must resign when accused, without prejudice to their right to the presumption of innocence, which remains intact, and which will allow them to come back. in power. policy if charges are filed.
But the logic of this resignation is unassailable, and This is part of the price of reaching a political position at the highest level..
The alternative, that of these senior officials remaining in their posts, letting the shadow of suspicion fall on them, on their work and on the institution they direct, produces dizziness. How the government’s confrontation with the Supreme Court produces dizziness, which proves digital right The economist when he accuses Pedro Sanchez to cling to power to the detriment of the quality of democracy.
