The ERC spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, expressed his surprise this Monday that former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has not declared or regularized the seized jewelry, thus avoiding "that debt remaining in his safe," since, as he stressed, he has had "many years" to do so.
Rufián expressed himself in this way in an interview on TVE's "Mañaneros," reported by Europa Press, after being asked about the statement released by the former head of the Executive after declaring as investigated in the National Court for the 'Plus Ultra case' and about the jewelry found in the safe of his office.
In said statement, Zapatero affirms that "the truth will prevail," to which Rufián commented that "one hopes he is right," because he considers himself a person "eager" for everything to be resolved as just "another invention." Even so, he warned that, even if "the legal battle" can be won, he doubts that the "moral" one will also be won.
The republican leader questioned how it is possible that someone considered the "moral compass of the left" has not "regularized, gifted, given, or declared" this jewelry. Along these lines, he insisted that it strikes him as odd that "that debt" continues in the former president's safe when there have been "many years" to have put it in order.
On this point, he pointed out that perhaps in other times there was greater permissiveness or it was seen as more common to accept certain gifts, but he considers that there has been enough time to assume that some gifts "are not normal." He added that he does not know how other parties act, but he stressed that in his party, gifts exceeding 60 euros are not accepted.
However, when asked if this whole matter represents a moral collapse of Zapatero's figure, Rufián admitted that he cannot be impartial, since the former president has supported him "in almost all" of his political career without demanding anything in return: "always mediating, always helping for what for me has been the best thing that has happened in this country in the last six, seven years."
The Code of Good Governance approved by the Executive of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and published in the BOE in March 2005 explicitly states that "any gift, favor, or service under advantageous conditions that goes beyond usual, social, and courtesy practices or loans or other economic benefits that may condition the performance of their duties will be rejected, without prejudice to what is established in the Penal Code". Furthermore, in relation to "gifts of greater institutional significance", it determines that they must be incorporated into the State's assets.