The Government proposes to incorporate a new title into the Criminal Code, which will be called the DElitos against the space for freedom, security and justice in the European Unionwhich seeks to harmonize with the rest of European countries the application of sanctions against Russia and Belarus which were approved after the war in Ukraine began.
It is about transposing a European directive that provides, among other issues, introducing the RCriminal sponsability of legal persons to be fined with amounts for their worldwide turnover -Not only the one they have in our country-or aggravate the crime of money laundering.
As this newspaper reported, Spain currently maintains the freezing of assets- Banking goods and accounts- of about twenty oligarchs, millionaires and senior Russian managers related to the Kremlin, as well as more than a hundred of its testaferros. The person responsible for detecting these assets is the Centralized Prevention Organ (OCP) of the money laundering of the Council of the Notaries, created in 2005 and dependent on the Ministry of Economy, whose technicians are responsible for analyzing the available notarial information and acting accordingly.
The draft presented on Tuesday by the Minister of Presidency, Justice and Relations of the Cortes during the press conference after the Council of Ministers, will now be analyzed by the advisory bodies -General Council of the Judiciary, Fiscal Council and State Council–, before returning to the Government and being able to be sent to the Cortes, as stated by the own Félix Bolaños during the press conference after the Council.
It is about adapting to our legislation a directive that was approved during the Spanish Presidency of the Union, in 2024, regarding the Definition of crimes and sanctions for the violation of restrictive measures of the European Union and whose transposition period expires this May. What happens, as explained by the minister, is that The European Commission does not have the capacity to execute these sanctions, the Member States do soand the EU saw the need to harmonize regulation in this regard in different countries, to avoid diverse treatments.
Modifications to the Law
Although Spain has already taken measures to be able to execute the sanctions, basically to Russia and Belarus, after the aggression to Ukraine, these new provisions are now added through the incorporation of a new title into the Criminal Code. This allows us to include modifications such as the criminal responsibility of legal persons for the commission of these crimes, which may be sanctioned in Amounts calculated in relation to its worldwide turnover, not the billing that they have exclusively in our country.
It is also expected that advertising for the crimes of this new title have to be published at the expense of the convicted in order to deter this type of behavior, and also The crime of money laundering is modified to aggravate the penalty When goods come from a crime against the space of freedom, security and justice of the European Union. Finally, it is a mixed coordination commission for the application of restrictive measures, something that is done today through the Department of National Security.
