The National Court has issued a resolution that puts an end to piece 10 of the Púnica case, where the contracting of online reputation management services by several local leaders of the Party (PP) to the companies EICO and Madiva, directed by the computer entrepreneur Alejandro de Pedro. This investigation, which began in 2014 under the supervision of the then head of the court, Eloy Velasco, involved nearly 40 people, including several former mayors, among them Ana Kringe, who served as mayor in Dénia at that time.
As reported by the public broadcaster À Punt, the judge in charge of the case has determined that there is insufficient evidence to support the presumption of an agreement between those investigated in the commission of crimes related to public contracts. Among the crimes examined were falsification of commercial documents, embezzlement, prevarication, influence peddling and bribery, among others.
This decision comes after the confirmation of the fourth criminal section of the National Court of filing the accusations against the former Madrid counselor Lucía Figar in the same "peça," arguing that the contracting of online reputation management services did not constitute a criminal activity. in the exercise of his public office, which led to Figar's resignation in 2015.
The magistrate has based his ruling on the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and on a recent ruling from the first criminal section, which addressed the contracting of online reputation management services by public officials of the Provincial Council of León. In both cases, it was argued that it had not been proven that these services were carried out for the personal benefit of the officials involved.
The judge highlights the difficulty of distinguishing between the promotion of the institutional image of a public official and his personal political prestige, especially in the context of online promotion campaigns, social networks and the media. According to the judge, it is "extremely difficult, if not impossible," to establish a dividing line between the role of a person in his institutional position and the institutional work that he represents.
The magistrate concludes that, given the complexity of this distinction, it would be impracticable and would distort the criminal system to undertake exhaustive criminal investigations into every politician who has an online presence or who hires marketing services to promote his name or his institution.
In all the contracts analyzed, the judge considers that the agreed services were provided as agreed and that none of the news published was related to private matters of the mayors, but rather dealt with activities related to their public functions. Furthermore, no evidence was found to suggest that the prices paid were above market standards in the area of media advertising.
It has taken years but Ana Kringe has emerged unscathed from this trial. Congratulations to the PP of Denia and especially to Ana.