The Lanzarote lawyer Irma Ferrer has decided to renounce the award that the Hay Derecho Foundation gave her in 2019, since she states that she does not want to be "an accomplice to indignity", sharing that award with another lawyer who received it the previous year, and who is now the general secretary of the Vox Parliamentary Group in the Congress of Deputies. "The actions carried out by Mrs. Macarena Olona in her personal capacity or on behalf of her political party disgust me to the point of not wanting to be identified with her person or her actions", Ferrer points out in the letter of resignation that she has sent to the Foundation.
In that letter, the lawyer points out two reasons to justify this "personal decision". On the one hand, "not compromising with the intolerance, homophobia, xenophobia and violence that Mrs. Macarena Olona repeatedly expresses in the Congress of Deputies." On the other hand, which has been the definitive one, for the lawsuit that Vox has filed against the prosecutor Ignacio Stampa, who worked for years in Lanzarote and who currently works in the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office in Madrid, being in charge of one of the main cases open throughout Spain, the Tándem case, which investigates former commissioner Villarejo and which has splashed some of the main fortunes of the country, including the Monarchy and entities such as BBVA and Iberdrola.
"This can only be interpreted as a crude attempt to prevent the progress of the investigations of what is probably the most important anti-corruption case in Spain," says Ferrer, who recalls that Villarejo's own legal defense is trying to remove the two prosecutors who are handling the case - Stampa himself and Miguel Serrano - asking that they be investigated.
"My dignity obliges me to remove from my personal and professional sphere all those who play with the dignity and prestige of people to obtain a spurious political benefit," adds the lawyer in her letter, in which she recalls that Ignacio Stampa already received similar attacks when he worked in Lanzarote, by "corrupt mafias and their media." In fact, several of those media outlets have already been convicted of attacking both Stampa's honor and that of one of the investigating judges, since it was considered proven that they had spread false news.
"Ignacio Stampa is among the giants"
With the resignation from the award, Irma Ferrer wanted to express her "loyalty to the work carried out by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office", which is "dignified, professionally and effectively represented by Mr. Ignacio Stampa and Mr. Miguel Serrano" in the Tandem case. Regarding Stampa, she recalls that in most of the corruption cases in which she has intervened as a popular accusation - on behalf of associations such as Urban Transparency and Civic Action - it was this prosecutor who represented the Public Ministry.
"During those years we received fierce attacks from corrupt mafias and their media very similar to those now carried out by these actors of political mediocrity", recalls Ferrer.
"My professional experience in the cases against corruption shared with Mr. Ignacio Stampa grants me the privilege and honor of being able to directly vouch for his professionalism, seriousness, rigor and courage. Therefore, the actions carried out by Mrs. Macarena Olona in her personal capacity or on behalf of her political party disgust me to the point of not wanting to be identified with her person or her actions," she adds.
"This exercise costs me the price of returning the Hay Derecho Award and assuming the responsibility of putting them in this delicate situation. You will remember that in my acceptance speech for the award I named the giants who have allowed me to see beyond, those people and institutions that have contributed to my work and training something more than knowledge and support, people who have been and are exemplary and stimulate me to be so every day. The Environmental Prosecutor's Office, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and Ignacio Stampa are among those giants," she points out in the letter she has sent to the Foundation.
"Deep rejection and shame"
Initially, in a first letter, the lawyer raised to the Hay Derecho Foundation the "deep rejection and shame" that she had felt for months with "the public behaviors, actions and manifestations of Macarena Olona", and warned that the "discomfort had reached the limit", following Vox's complaint against Stampa. "The fight against corruption has taught me that one cannot be a participant in injustice either by action or by omission", she added, asking "humbly" to the Foundation to consider the possibility of withdrawing the award from Macarena Olona. "Otherwise, without subtracting an iota of respect and gratitude that you deserve, I will renounce my award in coherence with my feelings and thoughts," she advanced.
In its response, the Hay Derecho Foundation responded that it could not withdraw an award granted two years ago, among other things because the facts raised by Ferrer are subsequent to its concession, and also because it does not have the power to do so nor is it included in the bases that regulate these awards that are granted annually.
"Being very respectable your position, it is a moral judgment that you make in relation to the behavior of a person that is subsequent to the delivery of the Hay Derecho 2018 award, which was based on the behavior of Mrs. Olona as a denouncer of corruption in State Ports. That complaint is what made her worthy of the Hay Derecho award. The behavior that you consider institutionally inappropriate is closely linked to the strategy followed by the political party to which she belongs and in which she entered at a later time," she states in her letter of response.
Thus, although she points out that she shares the "concern for the partisan instrumentalization of institutions" and admits that the current activities of Mrs. Olona may "be uncomfortable for them", she maintains that she "cannot withdraw an award from someone without the facts that gave rise to its concession having changed, having been proven false and without the due procedure that, in addition, is not provided for in the bases of the award call." In addition, she emphasizes that this award was granted for specific actions, "without implying joint and indefinite guarantees of the future performance of the winners."
As a result of that letter, in which the Foundation also asked Irma Ferrer to reconsider her decision to renounce the award, the lawyer has sent a new letter confirming her resignation. In it, she once again makes clear her "respect and consideration" towards the Foundation and even highlights that "it honors them to remain faithful to their principles and defend compliance with the law - relating to the very bases of the award - despite the discomfort that this may cause them." "Allow me to remain faithful to mine and make official the return of the Hay Derecho 2019 Award", she adds.
"I will always be grateful for the gift and recognition that the granting of the 2019 award meant for me," admits Irma Ferrer, who hopes that both parties will give "public demonstration of the values that strengthen us as citizens", with "transparency" and with an "exercise of respect in the nuances and tolerance despite the discrepancy." "If this chapter is to serve us for something, it should be to strengthen the role of the institutions we represent and the dignified exercise of popular accusation. It will be enough for a single person to assume the principles we defend for all this to have been worth it," she concludes.
