Suchergebnisse

La Comisión Europea ha lanzado una propuesta de Directiva sobre la protección de las personas que informan sobre violaciones del derecho de la Unión. El Parlamento español también está debatiendo sobre una nueva propuesta legislativa que busca una regulación integral para combatir la corrupción y proteger a los denunciantes. La propuesta de la UE destaca la idea de que el juicio justo debe ser la piedra angular que debe presidir la regulación de esta materia. Por el contrario, la propuesta que se debate en el Parlamento español puede poner en peligro las garantías de las personas investigadas, especialmente mediante la creación de un órgano administrativo que puede investigar los casos de corrupción sin enviarlos a las autoridades correspondientes (fiscal o juez de instrucción) desde el primer momento. En relación con las medidas de investigación, la autoridad administrativa puede mantener entrevistas con los afectados sin estar reguladas las garantías que se respetarán durante estas declaraciones. Se contempla en la propuesta que se pueden realizar registros o que se pueden incautar documentos sin especificar cómo deben llevarse a cabo estas medidas. Las medidas de protección incluidas en la propuesta legislativa española tampoco parecen adecuadas. Son medidas de protección que no están sujetas a una decisión o control judicial y su duración puede extenderse incluso después de que se archive el proceso penal. Por otra parte, las medidas de protección solo pueden aplicarse a los funcionarios públicos, aunque con frecuencia los denunciantes son profesionales independientes que tratan con la Administración Pública en la que se produce el hecho delictivo constitutivo de un delito de corrupción. No obstante, todas estas objeciones a la iniciativa española no pueden hacernos olvidar la necesidad de contar en nuestro país con una legislación adecuada para combatir la corrupción de manera más eficaz y, sobre todo, para proteger a los denunciantes más adecuadamente, sin que todo ello suponga merma alguna en las garantías y derechos de las personas investigadas. ; European Commision has launched a proposal for a Directive on the protection of persons reporting on breaches of Union law. The Spanish Parliament is also debating on the proposal of a new piece of legislation which searches a comprehensive regulation to combat corruption and to protect whistle-blowers. The EU proposal highlights the idea of fair trial as the corner stone of any approach to this issue. On the contrary, the proposal under debate at the Spanish Parliament may jeopardize the safeguards of the persons under investigation, namely by setting-up an administrative board who is allowed to investigate corruption cases without sending them to the proper authorities (Public Prosecutor or Investigative Judge) from the very first moment. In relation to the investigation measures, the administrative authority may maintain interviews with those affected without being regulated the guarantees that will be respected during these statements. It is contemplated in the proposal that searches can be made or documents can be seized without specifying how these measures should be carried out. The protection measures included in the legislative proposal do not seem adequate either. These are measures that are not subject to judicial decision or control and its duration can be extended even after the criminal proceeding is dismissed. The protection measures can only be applied to civil servants, although frequently the whistle-blowers are independent professionals who deals with Public Administration. However, these objections to the Spanish proposal can not make us forget the need to have adequate legislation in our Country to combat corruption more effectively and, above all, to protect whistle-blowers properly, but always having in mind that procedural safeguards and fundamental rights of the persons under investigation should be preserved.

Bilateral or multilateral criminal investigations and the need to gather evidence abroad is nowadays more and more frequent. However, it is a complex process because of the diversity of legal instruments in force in Spain. To solve the existing problems, it is crucial to develop legislation establishing common rules to issue and execute letters of requests in pursuing of transborder evidence. This new legislation should clearly specify the role of the different legal operators that participate in criminal investigations, judges, public prosecutors and legal clerks, as well as the role of the Ministry of Justice as Central Authority. The multiple international conventions in force in Spain include provisions to request that any evidence obtained abroad be gathered following Spanish procedural formalities required under the Spanish law and jurisprudence to be admissible as evidence. The new legislation should include as an obligation that any Spanish request to other countries incorporate the description of the requirements for the requested evidence to be admissible in Spain. Likewise, it should specify how the parties in the case can participate in the issuing and in the execution procedures. The new legislation should also address the setting up of Joint Investigation Teams, granting full authority for its constitution to the investigating judge and modifying the current law that requires for its establishment an authorization from the Ministry of Justice. Equally, the role of the Spanish public prosecutors in these joint investigation teams should be similar to the role described to them in the Spanish criminal procedures rules. Recent legislation (Law 16/2015), does not describe with sufficient clarity the role of liaison magistrates and of the networks on international cooperation in criminal matters. It is necessary a more detailed regulation to incorporate these legal operators that can efficiently facilitate transborder evidence gathering. Similarly, the new legislation should also describe more clearly ...