The private activities of the professor of Constitutional Law and lawyer in the Congress of Deputies Enrique Arnaldo through his law firm Estudios Jurícidos y Procesales SL, together with his presence in more than one hundred acts of the FAES Foundation in recent years, they reveal their strong ties with the PP and relationships with investigated and alleged front men of the plots in which party members are investigated. All this questions their independent profile as a candidate of this formation for the next renewal of the Constitutional Court (TC).
In addition, Arnaldo was charged in the ‘Palma Arena’ case by the judge of Palma de Mallorca Jose Castro, that he investigated the ‘macrocause’ of corrupt activities of former Balearic president Jaume Matas, although he did not finally bring him to trial. The summary accredits the advisory work that the professor provided to Matas when he governed, and it is detailed how after his abandonment of politics this was hired by Arnaldo’s law firm in relation to businesses developed in Latin America.
The leader of the popular, Pablo Casado, justified the delay in reaching an agreement with the PSOE for the names of the third of the TC that had to renew Congress since November 2019 in the need to seek independent and technical profiles for the position, with the aim of “depoliticizing” justice. However, the two nominated candidates – in addition to Arnaldo, the judge has been chosen Conception Espejel, it was set aside to judge the ‘Gürtel’ case– do not appear to meet these objectives.
Both, together with the candidates by the PSOE Inmaculada Montalbán and Ramón Sáez, will be elected next Thursday by the Plenary of Congress, in an individual but finally telematic vote, to avoid crowds due to the coronavirus. To pass the parliamentary procedure, they must obtain at least 210 supports.
Explanations in Congress
During his appearance at the Appointments Committee held on November 2, Arnaldo argued that has never been a member of a political party and that, although he has attended debates and forums of the FAES foundation, he has also attended others of a different nature and always on technical-legal matters.
He explained that he took out his opposition for a lawyer in Congress and initially practiced between 1986 and 2001, year in which he was appointed by the Plenary of the Congress of Deputies as vowel of General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). A year later officially requested compatibility which allows these officials to work part-time in other areas, and has served in the current legislature in non-legislative commissions such as the Study of the Problem of Addictions and the Road Safety Commission.
Arnaldo, in the turn of answer to the different deputies, described himself as a temperate person and a professional lawyer who knows how to listen and is balanced. He insisted on the fact that he had been charged in the ‘Palma Arena’ case, that he had already been exonerated “and as such” he would like to be treated. “I would also like to say that when someone goes to court they cannot be considered an eternal suspect. It belongs to other bygone eras to be a suspect for life, happily overcome “, indicated the candidate.
Suspicious activities
The future president of the Constitutional Court, who according to all the forecasts will be the magistrate Pedro González-Trevijano, maneuvered being rector of the Rey Juan Carlos University with Arnaldo to facilitate “some academic link” to the former Balearic president Jaume Matas. This is accredited in a letter he signed in 2010, when Arnaldo and Matas were already being investigated in the ‘macrocause’ Palma Arena.
The letter was written by González-Trevijano knowing the situation in which his friend Arnaldo was then, who was accused, who was a professor at that university, at his express wish, according to the document. In Rey Juan Carlos, Cristina Cifuentes and Pablo Casado obtained their masters. Miguel Cardenal is also a professor at this university, who when he was Secretary of State for Sports signed Arnaldo as president of the Administrative Court of Sports at the same time that he advised the same parliamentary commission.
Also thanks to the summary of the Palma Arena case, it has been known that the candidate of the Popular Party to the Constitutional Court recognized Judge Castro in his day that his company Estudios Jurícidos y Procesales SL carried out 562 professional services between 2002 and 2009 to dozens of public administrations.
These works were a total of five for the State Administration, 83 for autonomous communities, 15 for the Provincial Council of Álava, two for the Island Council of Gran Canaria and two for that of Lanzarote, among others.
In relation to these works, the investigation of ‘El Periódico de España’ has revealed that Arnaldo provided documents and information to the Balearic Public Television (iB3), who had hired him during the presidency of Jaume Matas (PP), regarding the processing of the Draft Law for the modification of the Intellectual Property Law in the Congress of Deputies.
Relationship with alleged front men
In a letter sent on April 21, 2010 to the instructor of the ‘Palma Arena’ Arnaldo also alludes to a letter written by the Uruguayan trustee Fernando Belhot, in which he reports that both had signed a “framework collaboration agreement” for the establishment of an Ibero-American network of law firms.
Belhot’s name appeared as alleged figurehead of the one considered as the maximum responsible for the Lezo plot, the former president of the Community of Madrid Ignacio González, but also in the Erial case, in which the former president of the Valencian Community and former minister is charged Eduardo Zaplana, as reported by the string SER. Both Zaplana and González have rejected that Belhot is their front man.
The suspicions surrounding his professional activity were brought to light by one of his associates in the office before Judge Castro. Mercedes González de Estrada Álvarez-Montalvo indicated in her statement that the The firm paid the former president of the Balearic Islands Jaume Matas “commissions for the operations in which it intervened, the percentage of which varied depending on the importance of the operation but that could reach up to a third of the profit obtained by Legal and Procedural Studies in each operation “.
Lezo punctures
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His name also appears in the investigation of one of the causes against PP that is still being investigated in the National Court, for the alleged criminal activity of the former president of Madrid, Ignacio González. At the end of 2016 the Civil Guard intercepted a call between González and the current Constitutional candidate in which both spoke of the appointments within the Ministry of Justice and the alleged influence of Arnaldo in them.
“I am moving so that the new one to replace this lady – the former state attorney general Consuelo Madrigal– Be good & rdquor ;, replies Arnaldo, who adds: “If I had any [dato] Again, I would call you right away & rdquor ;. The confidential revealed others most recent deals of the candidate who move in the line of irregularity, pointing out that he allegedly violated the prohibition of charge from two different universities with the signing of a private contract with the Cardenal Cisneros center that allowed him to continue teaching until this year 2021.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com