Basque prosecutor Carmen Adán feels in a “loop”. Year after year, during the annual appearance to present the prosecutor’s report to the Basque Parliament, they end up making similar assertions which are never substantiated. The 2024 intervention was not an exception and Adan left you with two thoughts. On the one hand, he continues to consider that it is “absolutely desirable” that the figure of the anti-corruption delegate be created in Euskadi. On the other hand, he warned that there are numerous lawsuits against public officials for environmental crimes – he did not mention them but are being investigated, for example, Councilor Amaia Barredo or Gipuzkoa deputy José Ignacio Asensió, from the PNV and PSE-EE – and that there are also few means to fight this crime. For this reason, he understands that the support of the Civil Guard in these investigations is “very important” and that it must be given relevance “without complexes”.
Asked about a possible Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Adán said her assessment was “positive.” “Specialization is always a good thing. And the support of the anti-corruption prosecution would be absolutely desirable,” he said. A post of delegate against economic crimes was created, headed by José Manuel Ortiz, but it covers many other issues than political corruption. The prosecutor indicated that this position would only be created if there were cases and complaints but, at the same time, since there is no way, the cases and complaints that would justify it do not flourish either. He regretted that the specialization of the Ertzaintza in this matter was not “very great” either. We recently learned that less than a dozen people are dedicated to this issue. “It’s a kind of loop that we can’t get out of,” he lamented.
Concerning environmental crimes, another of the hobbyhorses of his mandate, which began in 2017, he warned that only companies or individuals cannot be designated as responsible for these matters. In fact, he pointed out that in many cases the accused face institutional charges. If environmental prevarication has been expressly included in the Penal Code, it will be for a reason, it has come to reason. In response to questions from EH Bildu, he expressly valued the work of the Civil Guard. “I don’t know if they will like it very much,” he joked to the nationalist coalition. He said the agency had helped conduct “many” investigations. However, he recognized improvements in relations with the Ertzaintza specialist team after years of tensions and complaints.
Adán also made other general considerations on crime in Euskadi. He asked to analyze the phenomenon based on “pure” data and not “perceptions” and not to “revive” the debates on the nationality of criminals, a question on which Vox questioned itself. He warned of the heavy workload of rooms specializing in violence against women and expressed his concern about cases involving minors, in particular harassment or sexual violence. He left files on cases that cannot be investigated because the people involved were under the legal minimum age for prosecution, 14. Third touch to Ertzaintza, she denounced “that there is no specialized group for minors” and considers this “absolutely necessary”.
