POLITICAL PARTIES UNITE IN PRISON FOR FORMER MAYOR CALL

Listen to this article

A year after former mayor of Torrevieja, Pedro Ángel Hernández Mateo was sentenced on corruption charges of forgery and breach of trust in the award in 2004 of the contract to collect disposed of solid waste in the town, now having exhausted the appeals process and all courts confirming his guilt, the convicted mayor was given notice this week by the courts of Valencia to appear on the 18th of November, for the immediate execution of the ruling that sentences him to three years in prison on corruption charges of forgery and breach of trust in the award in 2004 of the contract to collect disposed of solid waste in the town.

The ruling now states that Hernández Mateo must appear before the secretarial body of the Judciial police at 11:00 on the 18th of November, “in order to make delivery of an order of committal to prison for the execution of the sentence of imprisonment imposed in the present case, with the warning that, failure to appear to practice diligence, will render him liable to arrest and subsequent admission by the State Security Forces”. However, one last minute life line still remained, with the opportunity to file a clemency claim, for which he had until that deadline to submit his plea.

After maintaining a position of silence on the matter, the current Mayor of Torrevieja, Eduardo Dolón, this week offered his support for clemency, by backing a petition created by a nephew of Hernández Mateo. In his statement of support, Dolón said, “I think everyone recognizes, even those who hate him, Pedro did a lot for this town”.

That campaign itself was also not offering a particularly favourable opinion of the guilty politician, accompanied by the quote, “did he do anything wrong? Probably.”, but continuing to maintain that despite being found guilty of corruption in this case, Hernández Mateo had done a lot for the city of Torrevieja during his time in office.

Local spokesperson for the Partido Popular, Joaquín Albadalejo, said that he respected the decision of the justice department, but admitted that Hernández Mateo “has not been perfect and we have found that he has made mistakes”, his work for the city does “not deserve to be in jail”, whilst calling the prison sentence confirmed by every level of the judicial system through the appeals process, “too cruel”.

However, the situation then took a somewhat sinister turn, as a number of non-profit, community and charitable groups were seen to filter their “support” for the appeal through their members, to which the Los Verdes green party, who brought the case to light initially, believed was as a direct result of the ruling government team bullying and harassing them into supporting it, saying that the town hall are “blackmailing” groups to sign the petition, or face a withdrawal in subsidy and grants. The group also state that signing the petition “on behalf of others”, as has been the case on a number of occasions, is not a true and valid picture of genuine support.

On Friday, the regional and provincial PP groups issued an official statement saying that they will not support the request for a pardon, but have said that they would leave it to personal choice if their members with to do so. Immediately afterwards, it was revealed that 86% of the Valencia deputies did indeed sign the petition. Earlier in the week, a principal Spanish newspaper started their own survey of the people of Torrevieja to canvas opinion from the residents and voters of the city. What might come as a surprise to the administration playing the game of supporting convicts is that, immediately, 87% of those who have voted on their survey say that Hernández Mateo should be sent to prison and should indeed serve the term dictated by the courts. As the days went on, the figure increased to 91%, maintaining that level whilst still obtaining votes.

But one thing also became clear later in the week, all other principle political groups suddenly came together as one, insisting that justice be done and prison be served. The Los Verdes of Valencia started their own petition via the motivational website change.org, summed up with the headline, “All corrupt politicians must pay justice for committing crimes without ever being pardoned by the government”. That campaign, which can only be signed by individuals, is also gaining momentum.

Fanny Serrano of the socialist PSPV-PSOE criticised the ruling government officials for publicly supporting corrupt politicians, arguing that the claims that Hernández Mateo had done so much for the city were “childish”, because as the mayor, that was his job, for which he was also handsomely paid of course. Serrano considered it “inappropriate” that there are people who have used their public office positions to seek a pardon and that it would be “disgusting” if it were granted, reminding us that there are also further ongoing cases.

Carlos Sánchez, secretary general of the Juvetudes Socialistas, whilst understanding that those supporting the campaign for clemency may be family and friends, “honesty in politics is a necessity for quality assurance of public management”.

Meanwhile the UPyD has affirmed their opinion through spokesperson José Serna, calling the clemency campaign “shameful”. Serna said that “support for the pardon, by Mayor Eduardo Dólon encourages corruption and impunity, and this causes enormous damage to the democratic system”.

With many observers and commenting stating that throughout history there are countless documented cases of criminals and “baddies” doing good deeds prior to getting caught for their illegal activities, it is still a fact that it is the courts who have found him guilty and he used his right to appeal, a process which only served to confirm his guilt. For whatever the reason might be, if he does remain unpunished and free then many more people will consider this to be a blatant abuse of the justice system in a time when the central and regional governments are vowing to clamp down on political corruption for which hundreds of cases are currently working their way through the courts.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/41511/

Home Insurance | Spanish Home Insurance | Home Insurance in Spain | Spanish Property | Costa Blanca Spanish Property | Spain Property | Euromillions | Euromillions Lottery Results