SPAIN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Gabriel Rodríguez-Ramos, RODRIGUEZ RAMOS ABOGADOS
or receives it (Article 419 CC) and the private indi - vidual who promotes or pays it (Article 424 CC)); • no judicial investigation and neither decision to judge nor trials linked to the crime of bribery of foreign officials and authorities in economic opera - tions with disruption of competition (Article 286 ter CC); • 20 judicial investigations, five decisions to judge and one trial related to facts linked to the crime of bribery of administrators, executives and employ - ees of companies (Article 286 bis CC); • four judicial investigations, and no decision to judge nor trials linked to the crime of bribery of sports entities, athletes and referees to manipulate the outcome of highly significant sports competi - tions (Article 286 bis CC); and • 519 judicial investigations, 98 decisions to judge and 309 trials related to facts linked to the crime of money laundering (Articles 301–304). The GRECO, at the 97th Plenary Meeting (held on 17–21 June 2024), and when covering corruption pre - vention in respect of judges in Spain, considered as recommendations: • carrying out an evaluation of the legislative frame - work governing the General Council of the Judici - ary (CGPJ) and of its effects on the real and per - ceived independence of this body from any undue influence; and • that objective criteria and evaluation require - ments be laid down in law for the appointment of the higher ranks of the judiciary – ie, presidents of Provincial Courts, High Courts of Justice, the National Court and Supreme Court judges, in order to ensure that these appointments do not cast any doubt on the independence, impartiality and trans - parency of this process. On 4 September 2024, a new president of the CGPJ, Ms María Isabel Perelló Doménech, was elected after nearly six years without consensus around the best candidate. The institutional crisis has meant that since 2021, the CGPJ could not make discretionary appointments in the most important judicial vacancies, which led to an extreme situation in certain courts. It appears that the new president is now successfully facilitating the operation of the CGPJ, with the pend -
ing appointments from the past three years expected to be approved in 2025, on the basis of a consensus. The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has important pending judgments, for example affecting corruption policies, which could be solved in the next year, including: • the interpretation of the different figures of the misappropriation after the modification of their definition in 2023, introduced by the Organic Law 14/2022 (published 23 December 2023, and entered into force on 12 January 2023); • the extent of the permitted facilitation and com - mercial payments involving foreign officials in eco - nomic transactions (Articles 445 CC – 286 ter CC); • the corporate criminal liability of companies. The Supreme Court has progressively provided greater detail on the elements of criminal liability of legal entities (last example Sentence 768/2025, 25 Sep - tember 2025 articulates significant considerations regarding the burden of proof of the existence and content of internal control components) and will continue shaping them; and • the possible use of information and evidence from internal investigations when not respecting the guarantees recognised by the Law 2/2023 and given to the person affected by the investigation. Since 2021, the European Prosecutor Office (EPO) has Spanish European Delegated Prosecutors, responsi - ble for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judg - ment criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union (Directive (EU) 2017/1371 and Article 4 Regulation (EU) 2017/1939). According to its report, during 2024, the Spanish European Delegated Prosecutor Office: • began 48 investigations; • accumulated 75 ongoing investigations affecting EUR464,8 million; and • received reports/complaints: (a) from 42 Spanish authorities; (b) from 19 EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies; and (c) from 179 private parties.
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