Other cascade of resignation requests in the afternoon. After the Board of Court Prosecutors, the head of the Public Ministry, Alvaro Garcia Ortizhas listened to the opinions of the members of the Fiscal Council about his decision not to leave his position despite being accused by the Supreme Court. And so, a majority of the members have asked him to step aside to do not call into question credibility of the entire tax career.
The meeting, which began at 4:00 p.m. and lasted for almost two hours, passed in a “relaxed” manner, according to sources present, and the interventions of the 12 members of the Council followed one another in a “tone cordial”. Once again, García Ortiz was the first to intervene and offer your explanations of what happened.
His intervention has been followed, one by one, by those of all the members of the table. Those affiliated with the Progressive Union of Prosecutors (to which the attorney general himself belonged) have unequivocally supported his performance. Santiago Mena and Yolanda Ortiz have conveyed their support to García Ortiz, based on “moral and institutional reasons” and on “the content of the resolution” of the Supreme Court.
“The only reason why the reasoned statement was submitted to the Supreme Court has been cleared of all doubt: the explanatory note from the State Attorney General’s Office did not reveal any secret because everything was already published,” the prosecutors have defended.
In contrast to them, Salvador Viada, from the Independent Professional Association of Prosecutors (APIF) has asked for the resignation of García Ortiz and, according to tax sources, has been the most critical member of the actions of his superior. Along with him, six members of the Association of Prosecutors (AF), the majority, have asked the attorney general not directly to resign, but to “reconsider your position on not resigning”. After the session of the Fiscal Council, the AF wrote in a statement that “the decision of the attorney general to continue in office calls into question the credibility of the actions of all the members of the career.”
The prosecutors belonging to this association have highlighted another delicate issue: “the anomaly that supposes that whoever is called to intervene as part of the process in defense of legality, the rights of citizens and the public interest, acts under the leadership superior of the person investigated in that process”.
“There cannot be a more serious consequence. for the Public Prosecutor’s Office to sustain the progressive deterioration of the institution, of which it intends to continue holding superior leadership and representation despite its status as an under-investigator,” conclude the members of the Association of Prosecutors in a statement sent shortly after the end of the meeting.
The attorney general, who according to sources present at the meeting has been “serious”, but “calm”, has not only confirmed his intention not to resign, but has shown that he really thinks about remaining by confirming that next meeting stands of the Fiscal Council, dated at the end of December.
