Alex Trelinski
SPAIN’S Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, has announced 15 anti-corruption measures including the creation of an independent Public Integrity Agency, as he tries to ride a storm of scandals involving former colleagues.
Speaking in Congress on Wednesday, Sanchez admitted that he considered resigning following revelations of corruption in his PSOE socialist party, but will stay on because he says he didn’t do anything wrong and still has work to do.
Pedro Sanchez said: “Resignation seemed like the simplest solution for me and my family, but after listening to many people, I understood that throwing in the towel is never an option.”
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“I am going to continue because I am a clean politician who was unaware of corruption. I understand that there are citizens who have doubts about what I knew and what I didn’t. But I don’t have them.”
“That is why I aspire to regain the trust of the groups and clear the distrust of the citizens,” Sanchez stated.
The highlight of his package of anti-corruption initiatives includes the establishment of an independent Public Integrity Agency.
It will assume a key role in the prevention, supervision, and prosecution of corrupt practices and will independently coordinate the fight against corruption.
Other measures include companies having to prove they have anti-corruption compliance systems if they want to bid for public contracts.
Controls will be strengthened over political parties while groups and foundations with public funding of €50,000 and over will have to carry out independent audits.
Legal measures against corruption will be toughened up and the process for courts to investigate cases simplified.
It will also be easier to seize assets gained through corruption.
In response, the leader of the conservative Partido Popular, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, described Pedro Sanchez as a ‘destroyed politician’.
“He did not come clean on what has been going on,” he added.
“You chose the right people to do the wrong things you needed to do to get to power and stay in power,” said Feijoo, who also demanded Sanchez’s resignation and the calling of a general election.
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