According to the information published by El Mayo, Alfredo de Miguel, a former PNV leader in Álava, has assumed new responsibilities in public administration after being convicted by the corruption courts in December 2019. According to the media, De Miguel works as manager of the Maritime Development Association and in the documentation of the European Union appears as “manager” of the association. In Spain, there are more similar local partnerships in coastal communities. De Miguel participated on official trips, inter-territorial meetings or meetings of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. He has given lectures and received awards.

The Marine Development Association Flag, as explained on its website, is “Local Action Group on Fisheries and Aquaculture” and consists of several associations: Fishermen's Brotherhood of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, Hazi Foundation, Bizkaia Conservas and Salazones Association, Gipuzkoa Fish Conservas Manufacturers Association, Euskadi Fish Marketing Federation, Ondmar Offshore Fishing Producers Organization and Women's Federation.

Government: “Nothing can be done”

The Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment has confirmed the information on Tuesday morning, according to El Correo. The media of the Vocento group has gathered the words of “an official spokesman of the Basque Government”, according to which De Miguel “has some functions [in the public administration] and fulfills them”.

De Miguel was arrested by the police in March 2010 together with two other leaders of the Alavés PNV. He then lost his public office in the Caja Vital and the Diputación de Álava. De Miguel had two places in the public administration and was on leave, but in April 2010 he returned to one of them, the public society IKT, currently called Hazi. Hazik promotes products from the Basque coast and the Association for Marine Development is one of the associations that form Flag.El government spokesman who has spoken with El Correo says that “nothing can be done” to change or remove De Miguel’s situation from his responsibilities: “It cannot make a decision because legally nothing can be done until there is a final judgment.”

The High Court of Justice of Álava sentenced De Miguel to 13 years in prison in December 2019, as head of a network of corruption, but he and others convicted appealed and after three years the Supreme Court has not yet delivered a judgment. The 2019 collective agreement of the Hazi public society, in the event that a penalty of more than six years is imposed for economic crimes that allowed the dismissal of its members, does not specify, according to the information provided by Iker Rioja in El Mayo, that the sentence should be “firm”.

In any case, this is not the first time that similar information has emerged. In February 2020, it was known that former colleagues convicted of corruption, Alfredo de Miguel and Koldo Otxandiano, were still working in two public societies: Hazin and Miñano Technological Park, respectively. De Miguel also obtained three salary increases and a rise in charges since the beginning of the lawsuit against him.

Complaint by the opposition

The political groups of the parliamentary opposition in Vitoria have denounced the attitude of the government and the PNV. “The support and treatment being given by the Urkullu Government to De Miguel is a clear sign of the unwillingness of some to end reconciliation and fraudulent actions,” said EH Bildu, and called for the means to end corrupt practices. “Being the PNV card everything is easy. We must put an end to revolving doors, ventilate institutions,” said Elkarrekin Podemos. “The PNV has offered revolving doors to those who abuse public money in exchange for the silence of the punished offender,” PP. The PSE governing alongside the PNV in the government has asked the PNV to “stand firm” against De Miguel, but “when legally possible”.