CITIZEN GROUP AGAINST CORRUPTION in the Spanish State

Replicating the successful model of the Citizens Group against Corruption in Catalonia, promoted by Xnet and the work done from its mailbox for citizens’ leaks against corruption XnetLeaks; the Citizens Group against Corruption at the State level is launched.

The goal is not the union of a single new group but to enhance and federate the skills of groups and individuals already active in the citizens’ fight against corruption, thereby creating a stable, coordinated and collaborative network to fight corruption without the need to agree on consensus actions and objectives and still exchanging useful information and facilitating interaction and campaigns.

Objectives:

To put on record that everything is done by citizens (#LaCiudadaníaLoHizo).
Optimize and speed up the work done by each of the actors who form a part of the Citizens Group against Corruption.
Amplify public pressure on complicit institutions and support the work of public servants who do their work honestly.
Guarantee the public opinion’s right to information and provide channels for citizen collaboration.
A number of us will assist and protect whistleblowers who decide to report corruption (see decalogue). Progressive normalization: neither heroes nor victims.

Matter of urgency:

Instead of taking appropriate measures to support the fight against corruption, measures are being implemented within Government that are completely to the contrary and aimed at ensuring impunity:

The mobilization of lawyers, prosecutors and judges against the Code of Criminal Procedure, based on Law 41/2015 as of October 5 – in force on 6 December – which facilitates impunity in setting impossible deadlines, especially in major corruption cases requiring committees of inquiry or complex investigations, warrants the urgent support of all citizens and the groups working against corruption.

PARTICIPANTS

PROMOTERS

Xnet and XnetLeaks against corruption mailbox (coordination and spokesperson).

Group of activists working in different fields related to networked democracy and the defence of Net Neutrality. Their lines of action revolve around five main points: the free circulation of culture, Net Neutrality, technopolitics, the defence of citizen journalism and the legal fight against corruption.
https://xnet-x.net/en/

OUTSTANDING WORK IN THE FIELD OF FIGHTING CORRUPTION:
– XnetLeaks mailbox against corruption.
– Brings to light and publishes Blesa’s Emails in an orderly manner at http://correosdeblesa.com
– Blog to bring media attention and report cases received by XnetLeaks.
– Drivers of 15MpaRato and other citizen devices.

CURRENT/FUTURE PROJECTS IN THE FIELD OF FIGHTING CORRUPTION:
– Handling of different cases that arrive to XnetLeaks.
– Provide resources and tools to individuals and groups organising against corruption.
– Creating work and collaboration networks based on the federation of competencies.
– Working on the subject of whistleblowers and their legal status in the Spanish State and in Europe.
– Experiences and recommendations collected in the User’s Guide for citizens.

15MpaRato

Citizen Lawsuit that initiated and drives the Bankia Case in the National High Court with nothing more than the cooperation of citizens (often in the form of information leaks), and has managed to uncover and open further legal cases concerning the scams of Bankia’s IPO and their Preferred Shares as well as the Black Cards scandal.
https://15mparato.wordpress.com/citizens-against-corruption/

CURRENT/FUTURE PROJECTS:
– Near to closing the preliminary investigation, 15MpaRato is preparing for the trial.
– Investigating regulators such as CNMV, AEAT, or FROB or developing audits for possible fraud or neglection of duties.

David Fernández

Ex-President of the Parliamentary Commission on the Pujol Case as deputy of the CUP-Parlament party. Prominent activist against corruption and promoter of democracy.

CURRENT/FUTURE PROJECTS:
– Working on the Atlas of Corruption in Catalonia – a review of the causes, effects and costs of corruption, a case topography as well as a practical guide for the fight against corruption.

ALSO PARTICIPATING

Grup Contra la Corrupció a Catalunya (Group against Corruption in Catalonia)

A space in which some of the more prominent people and organisations in the fight against corruption in Catalonia participate.
http://xnet-x.net/en/anticorruption-working-group-catalonia/

OUTSTANDING WORK:
– Information contributed to the Parliamentary Committee on the Pujol Case.
– Procuring the parliamentary vote in favour of the Government appearing in the Urdangarín-Infanta case against the Botín doctrine.

CURRENT/FUTURE PROJECTS:
– Moving forward a new vote in the new legislature in favour of the Government’s appearance against the Botín doctrine in Urdangarín-Infanta case, with the result of the new Government making the appearance.

Current participants in the Group against Corruption in the Spanish State

Kontuz

Citizen association of users, consumers and taxpayers from Navarra which has played a key role in the uncovering of major corruption cases in Navarra, such as the Otano and Urralburu cases or the plundering of Navarra’s Savings Bank.
http://www.kontuz.org/

In the book ‘El banquete. Expolio y desaparición de la CAN’ (The Banquet. Plunder and disappearance of the CAN) they report the results of their investigation: the CAN (public savings bank of Navarra) disappearance scandal and the network that lies behind the Government of Navarra.

OUTSTANDING WORK:
– 3 former presidents of Navarra have been taken to court over corruption issues.

CURRENT/FUTURE PROJECTS:
– They are promoting the creation of an anti-corruption office in Navarra.
– They continue work on the CAN and Banca Cívica cases, both still open.

Audita Sanidad (Healthcare Audits)

The Working Group for a Citizen Debt Audit of the Healthcare System in the Province of Madrid and for the investigation of corruption as a cause and effect of healthcare privatisation.
http://auditasanidad.org/

OUTSTANDING WORK:
– Completing a report on the “Public Procurement by the Ministry of Health in 2014” with the intention of relating it to healthcare lobbies and levels of corruption in public bidding contests.

CURRENT/FUTURE PROJECTS:
– Their current work concerns possible schemes between political power and the economic elites in the healthcare system of the Province of Madrid.
– They have initiated the process of collecting information on Manuel Lamela (ex-director of Healthcare) to thoroughly investigate his behaviour before, during and after leaving office.
– They seek collaboration with other groups and individuals to inquire about the Gürtel Case and the Operación Púnica in the Healthcare sector.
– Opening of a Citizen Observatory on Healthcare in the Province of Madrid.

Asufin

Association of Users Affected by Financial Swaps and Derivatives – formed in 2009 by citizens defrauded by financial products, such as Swaps – which currently serves those affected by any type of complex financial products, while performing outreach and education work, and publishing and making legal procedures and texts accessible for those scammed.
http://asufin.com/

The association focuses on prevention, information, training and advocacy for financial users. They are pioneers in disseminating all kinds of information, procedures, publicity and rulings, to help those affected and their lawyers in their legal defence. They also organise open seminars on LEGAL STRATEGIES for the annulment of contracts.
They always defend retail clients and publish all results on their website.

They work with experts on the use of financial derivatives (Swaps) by municipalities with possible partisan interests and on actions made by the State Attorney and Prosecutors contrary to the interests of citizens.

Encarni Cortés

She was elected councillor in Benalmádena by UCB (Unión Centro Benalmádena), the party that brought to power first the PSOE and then the PP in Benalmádena. She resigned from her position in the party at the beginning of the legislature to become an unaffiliated councillor after noting irregularities. Because of this she suffered isolation within her community with serious economic consequences (she was forced to close the family business). Finally, because of her complaints, some members of the government of UCB Benalmádena were charged. In the latest election she was again elected councillor.

OUTSTANDING WORK:
– Caso del Comedor Social (Social Dining Hall Case).

CURRENT/FUTURE PROJECTS:
– Following Encarnacion’s express proposal, a discovery and management audit of the town’s marina will begin, covering the financial years 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 to date. Finally the Provincial Court has given orders not to file her other two complaints and begin undertaking police investigations.

Acción Cívica (Civic Action)

An independent association who’s structure allows lawyers from across the Spanish state to take part in private prosecutions, pro bono and as representatives of the organisation, in judicial procedures for the misappropriation of public funds.
http://accion-civica.org/

OUTSTANDING WORK by its members:
– Antonio Penades has worked for three years as the popular Prosecution in the Caso Cooperación for diversion of public subsidies destined for developing countries. The trial of the first separate legal procedure ended with seven people in prison.
– Joan Llinares presented the key documentation that prevented the closure of the investigation on the Palau Case.

CURRENT/FUTURE PROJECTS:
– Currently acting as the popular Prosecution in the investigation of item 3 in the Caso Cooperación (Haiti hospital).
– Study of complaints and consideration of cases in which to act as the popular prosecution.
– Collaboration with other institutions on proposals against corruption and on measures for efficiency and streamlining in the State’s structure. Disclosure of the problem of corruption through social networks, the media and public events.

Fernando Urruticoechea

After 30 years working in public administration as auditor of several municipalities, he has informed on illegalities from which various indictments and lawsuits in several municipalities have emerged.

OUTSTANDING WORK:
– Castro Urdiales: reports through his researches on hundreds of irregularities that have led to 17 judicial investigations, 4 of them resulting in 8 convictions, and 160 charges in 13 pending cases, two of the last three mayors have been charged and one convicted. All political forces are involved (PP, PSOE and Partido Regionalista Cántabro and Izquierda Unida), civil servants and businessmen.
– For years he has been a consultant to associations; now specifically for the Observatorios Ciudadanos Municipales (Municipal Citizen Observatories) and the Auditoría Ciudadana de la Deuda Platform (Citizen Debt Audit Platform, PACD).

CURRENT/FUTURE PROJECTS:
– He plans to work on the problem of false accounting in the CCAA (the different Spanish provinces) and city councils, especially in relation to the indemnification of the 19 million euro fine imposed on the State by EUROSTAT for falsifying the accounts of the Generalitat de Valencia (Autonomous Government of Valencia).
– In the interest of protecting whistleblowers, he has tried to achieve protection for the public Auditors and Municipal Secretaries whose powerlessness and fear is for the most part the cause of their ineffectiveness against corruption. Therefore this group is especially at risk and should have special protection.

ADVISORS

Raúl Burillo

An inspector for Hacienda, the Spanish tax agency since 1990. His career started in Catalonia before he became a special delegate in 2004 for the Tax Agency in the Balearic Islands. He currently resides in Zaragoza.
Raúl Burillo was at the front of the team of inspectors at the Balearic Tax Agency which played a crucial rule in the investigation of cases such as ‘Palma Arena’, ‘Son Oms’, ‘Votor’, ‘Ibatur’ and ‘Maquillaje’, as well as in important operations against VAT fraud, money-laundering and double sales of real estate through Operation Relámpago, among others.
Today, he continues his work as inspector while collaborating personally with the Citizens Group against Corruption.

Gestha

Gestha, trade union constituted under the existing legislation, was founded in 1998 and run for union elections the first time in 1999.
It is the “most representative union” of the State Tax Agency (AEAT) Technical Corps of Finance and the Technical Corps of the Ministry of Finance. It has the character of MAJORITY.

It was born with the support of various Professional Associations, acting as complementary for them and pursuing the best defence for the interests of its members, as well as that of all staff in the service of the administration where its work is carried out. Geographically it covers all the provinces that make up the Spanish State.
http://www.gestha.es/

Pau Monserrat

Economist specialising in financial products and an articulator of economy through media.
Author of La Banca Culpable (The Guilty Banks): the best way of avoiding accountability for the blunders made in the banking business is to deny the existence of blame or of guilty parties, or better, to accept that there is a responsibility shared by all: bankers and bank employees, Government, supervisors and clients.

Plataforma Auditoría Ciudadana de la Deuda – PACD – (Citizen Debt Audit Platform)

A network of citizens, present throughout the territory of Spain, developing the process for a citizen debt audit and defining: what kind of audit is wanted, what debts are to be audited, who should participate in this process and with what objectives. They seek out evidence of illegitimacy and illegality in the generation of debt that the Spanish government, together with the EU and autonomic and local governments, have been using as justification for their austerity policies.
http://auditoriaciudadana.net/

Among its lines of work are:
– The presentation of motions in different municipalities aimed at not paying illegitimate debts and for the implementation of citizen audits.
– The creation of Municipal Citizen Observatories (OCMs), a citizen space for supervising municipalities in a collective, open and permanent manner.
– Analysis of debt in the Spanish State.
– Collaboration with the new city councils to develop citizen participation, improve the transparency of institutions and develop processes for citizen audits (already underway in the city of Madrid).
– Co-development of the citizen and sovereign concept of illegitimate debt, with special attention on the illegitimacy of bank bailouts in the Spanish State.
– International work in networking and exchange of experiences and knowledge through the ICAN network.