In a press conference from the headquarters of the Public Ministry, Tomas Galvezstated that he had already made the decision to eliminate the special teams and that the Board of Supreme Prosecutors would not have opposed this controversial measure. A week ago, the national prosecutor had already made public his intentions to dissolve the Lava Jato, Cuellos Blancos and Eficcop teams, among others.
“The decision has already been made with the consent of the Board of Supreme Prosecutors. It is not that they have said: ‘to dissolve it or put an end to it’, but rather they have said that it is a matter of exclusive jurisdiction of the Attorney General’s Office and that I must make the decision,” assured Tomás Gálvez.
Likewise, he indicated that after the announcement he would meet with the coordinators of the special prosecutor’s offices in order to determine how the work that the special teams had been carrying out within the aforementioned tax groups would be assimilated.
Exactly on December 11, the prosecutor had indicated that his proposal would be evaluated by the Board of Supreme Prosecutors, but that if a consensus was not reached, he would make this decision himself. However, in his statements on December 19, he stated that the supreme prosecutors left this controversial position in their power.
Tomás Gálvez attacked prosecutors Pérez and Vela
At another point in his speech, Tomás Gálvez launched harsh criticism against the prosecutors Jose Domingo Perez and Rafael Vela Barbawhom he accused – without presenting any support – of “taking over” the investigations and of allegedly covering up those investigated. Gálvez described the work of Pérez and Vela as an “obvious failure”, arguing that, after a decade of investigations, the results are insufficient.
“These gentlemen have been investigating for 10 years and their failure has been evident. The cover-up of those investigated has been evident and they obviously do not want to get out of the cases because they do not want the filth that must exist to be discovered,” said the acting prosecutor.
Despite the seriousness of the accusations, Gálvez did not present evidence to his accusation of alleged irregular conduct by prosecutors. Likewise, in his speech he omitted to mention the judicial progress achieved by the Lava Jato special team, which has made it possible to prosecute and obtain sentences related to four former presidents of the Republic.
Tomas Gálvez offended by Rafael Vela’s expressions.
Although he initially denied that his statement was retaliation against prosecutor Rafael Vela, Gálvez ended up alluding directly to the epithets launched by the anti-corruption coordinator and extended his criticism to the media.
“The press must be more informed and handle criteria of relevance. As you can say, Table of Parties, has we received a report from Congress? Am I not doing what I have said since I discovered that these gentlemen were working to cover up those investigated and not to discover the facts?” said Gálvez, adding that what Vela expressed would be “a misinformation campaign against them.”
