MadridThe day after hitting the wall of the PP over the financing reform and while José Manuel Albares was talking about Venezuela in Congress, María Jesús Montero had to appear in the Senate – forced by the absolute majority of the people – to give explanations about the SEPI case. The first vice-president of the Spanish government has defended the “honour, responsibility and prestige” of SEPI, which is attached to the Ministry of Finance, which is the investment arm of the State and which she has presented as a company “fundamental to the economic dynamism” of Spain. Montero has defended that the procedures were “correct”, he has denied that, “at least for now”, “any file has been discovered that has been processed differently from the law” and he has been forceful in endorsing SEPI’s actions: “There is no political responsibility in SEPI, there is nothing imputable to a malfunction”. “We are disgusted that there are people who can use politics to profit financially, but we must be able to clearly define who must answer to justice and not tarnish the institutions,” asked the fellow Minister of Finance, who acknowledged that corruption is a “crime for democracy.”
Who is in the eye of the hurricane is Vicente Fernández Guerrero, who was president of SEPI in the first year of Pedro Sánchez in Moncloa and was arrested a month ago by order of the National Court in the framework of an open case related to the awarding of public contracts and under secret summary. María Jesús Montero has indicated that the Civil Guard is investigating the period between 2021 and 2023, when Vicente Fernández did not preside over SEPI for two years: he resigned after being cited as being investigated in the case of the Aznalcóllar mine, of which he ended up being acquitted. “It was not in any case during the period that these people had political responsibilities in any of the institutions of this government,” he stressed.
Having said that, María Jesús Montero has asked the PP to stop “throwing insinuations” about the “commendable work” done by SEPI workers: “Respect the work of the courts, respect the work of public companies and do not try to smear all their performance”. Likewise, he has lashed out very harshly against the PP’s use of its absolute majority in the Senate. He has accused the popular people of bringing the upper house to “discredit” and “mistrust” and of having turned it into the “maximum exponent of anti-politics”. “They are only interested in fighting the government without caring in the slightest how it affects the health of democratic institutions,” he reproached them. And he has accused them of being “capable of anything” to “put obstacles” in the Spanish government and of wanting to end the coalition executive “by civil or criminal means”.
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