10/05/2012 - Myclipp

El País/ - Sociedad, Dom, 13 de Maio de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Supreme Court)
Weekend-jaunt judge under scrutiny
When, in 2008, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez
Zapatero appointed Carlos Dívar to head the General
Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) legal watchdog - a
position that automatically includes the post of
Supreme Court chief justice - there were a lot of
grumblings on the bench.Dívar was practically an
unknown. The Málaga-born judge wasn"t recognized
for any important decisions; he had never issued a
written opinion. Serving seven years as chief judge on
the national High Court, he had never been on any
multi-judge panel that ruled on high-profile cases -
another important requisite for anyone named to
preside over the Supreme Court. His role was more
that of an administrative judge.The other justices on
the Supreme Court were upset by Zapatero"s
decision because they felt that the appointment should
have been made from within. So it comes as no
surprise that no other bench member rushed to his
defense this week when a fellow CGPJ member filed a
complaint against Dívar with Attorney General
Eduardo Torres-Dulce for alleged misuse of public
funds.Dívar was first accused of charging 5,658 euros
to the judiciary to pay for six long weekend getaways
in Marbella between September 2010 and November
2011. A complaint filed by José Manuel Gómez
Benítez, a CGPJ member, alleges that none of the
four-day trips were for official business.Then on
Thursday, Gómez Benítez expanded his complaint
when he discovered 14 other trips Dívar took from
2008 until March of this year, with a grand total of
18,654 euros charged to the judiciary.Dívar stayed in a
luxurious hotel in Puerto Banús, and charged
expensive dinners for two to the judiciary"s coffers, the
complaint states. Even though he took the AVE
high-speed train, riding in business class, the judiciary
had to pay for lodgings and meals for his bodyguards,
and also dispatched official vehicles to Marbella for his
use.In a radio interview on Wednesday, the chief
justice denied that he misused his expense account,
explaining that there was a difference between
personal expenses, which he says he paid out of his
own pocket, and official expenses, "which are perfectly
documented and justified," and were submitted to a
government accountant for review. He called the
5,658-euro amount in question "chicken
feed."Nevertheless, the Attorney General"s Office said
that it would make a decision by next week whether to
file charges against Dívar with the Supreme Court,
which by law has the power to investigate and try him.
The entire affair has cast a bad light on one of the
nation"s top judicial officers, who considers himself
upright and deeply religious.The 70-year-old chief
justice didn"t have any enemies before coming to the
Supreme Court bench. After studying law in Deusto
and Valladolid, he served as a judge in Castuera
(Badajoz) and Orgaz (Toledo) and was later appointed
to the High Court, where he served for 28 years
investigating organized crime and terrorism. But
journalists who have covered the court for three
decades say that Dívar"s work never produced any big
news.But in 2009, he finally made headlines when he
broke a historic deadlock among the members of the
CGPJ over Zapatero"s proposed abortion bill by voting
against it. Sources at the CGPJ at the time said that it
was Dívar"s religious convictions that prompted him to
cast his vote against the relaxation of the law
submitted by the government. One of the most
controversial points was to allow 16-year-old girls
access to the procedure without having to obtain the
consent of their parents. The bill was redrafted by the
executive.A lifelong bachelor, Dívar doesn"t belong to
any professional associations but engages in activities
where he can express his strong Catholic convictions.
He makes trips to the Holy Land, often returning with
wooden rosaries for his co-workers.Like many who
have served on the High Court, Dívar was on terrorist
group ETA"s list of targets. Some years ago, on May
13, an ETA commando unit placed a car bomb along
one of the two routes Dívar usually took to get to the
High Court in Madrid. But that day he went a different
way, and the bomb was discovered and deactivated
before it went off.The judge has since attributed this
failure of this attempt on his life to a miracle performed
by the Virgin of Fatima, because it was her feast on
the day of the incident - a parallel interpretation given
by Pope John Paul II after the pontiff barely survived
an assassin"s bullet on the virgin"s feast day in
1981.Dívar has given religious conferences at the
Madrid Archdiocese concerning how to be a good
Christian while leading a public life. In a paper posted
on the Brotherhood of the Valley of the Fallen"s
website entitled "Justice and John Paul II," the judge
touches on such themes as divine justice, God"s law,
judicial independence, matrimony, family and
abortion.In the end he writes: "You will find the only
true justice by solely loving God and letting him love
you while leading a coherent and upright life."
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