Asens (UP) says that the "rush" to reform embezzlement is due to the demand of ERC and its support for the PGE

He says that there are doubts that are not clear enough and that Marchena will make a forced interpretation so that the process does not go unpunished

MADRID, 13 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of the United Podemos parliamentary group in Congress, Jaume Asens, has criticized the "rush" to reform the crime of embezzlement, understanding that "there are doubts that are not sufficiently clear", and has deduced that this speed has to do with a "requirement" of ERC and support for the General Budgets.

"It is obvious, we must not deceive public opinion, that this has to do with an ERC requirement, it has to do with some Budgets and with the fact that we have reached the end of the year and they want to close many folders," he recounted in statements to Cadena Ser, collected by Europa Press.

In this regard, he has explained that "nobody" has given him information that this speed to process the new embezzlement is a condition imposed by the Republicans, but "common sense" that "there is something of that."

In his opinion, in this matter it is necessary to make "self-criticism" because this point, embezzlement, has been discussed "little" and his group wanted "more time" to better study the effects of this revision, especially on a "sensitive" topic like this" given that in politics it is "as important to be right as to be understood".

And in this sense, he has explained that his formation was committed to "better outlining" certain "punitive figures" in a regulatory project of such depth and, therefore, they decided not to sign the PSOE and ERC amendment to modify the crime of embezzlement, although Due to responsibility, they supported him since the regulations in process suppress sedition and unblock the renewal of the Constitutional Court.

The change agreed upon by the Socialists and Republicans, which went ahead in the presentation, is punishable by up to 4 years in prison and 6 years of disqualification from giving public funds a use other than that intended, as well as imposing lesser penalties on those who repair the damage caused to heritage public or have collaborated "actively and effectively" with Justice.

After emphasizing that the speed applied to modify the embezzlement does not seem so adequate when in others they have been talking for two years, as is the case of the repeal of the Gag Law, Asens has also conceded that the purpose of reforming the embezzlement has to to do with the dejudicialization of the conflict in Catalonia, one of the goals of the dialogue table.

And it is that he has reiterated that the Criminal Code launched by the PP in 2015 is a "botch" and made an ad hoc review of embezzlement to "hit" the adversary with "names and surnames", as in the case of former president Artur Mas . Consequently, the progressive forces had to "reverse the path" of the popular ones and "defuse" the Catalan conflict, which passed for pardons.

Questioned about the legal debate on whether or not this change agreed upon by the PSOE and ERC entails prison sentences for the politicians convicted of the 'procés', the leader of En Comú Podem has responded that the laws "are not mathematical" although as a jurist he considers that the current wording of the embezzlement does not fit with the actions of the pro-independence leaders.

However, he has opined that he is convinced that the president of the Second Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, Manuel Marchena, "will make it fit" into embezzlement and will make a "forced" interpretation so that the 'Procés' does not go unpunished.

What's more, Asens has indicated that the 2017 referendum was "illegal" and should not have been carried out, but the question is what mechanisms must be used to pursue it. In his opinion, he understands that embezzlement was a very indeterminate concept that could lead to arbitrariness, because it is not the same to "put your hand in the box" of the inappropriate use of public resources, for example.