Edmundo Bal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edmundo Bal in 2021

Edmundo Bal Francés (born 2 July 1967) is a Spanish lawyer and politician. As a member of the State Lawyers Corps, he prosecuted La Liga footballers for tax avoidance, members of the governing People's Party for corruption (Gürtel case), and proponents of the Catalan independence movement for sedition. A member of the Citizens party, he was elected to the Congress of Deputies in April 2019 for the Madrid constituency.

Education and legal career[]

Born in Huelva, Andalusia, Bal graduated in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid. At the age of 25 in 1993, he joined the State Lawyers Corps.[1]

As head of the State Criminal Law Department, Bal prosecuted FC Barcelona player Lionel Messi and club president Josep Bartomeu for tax avoidance. He attacked Barcelona player Gerard Piqué for linking him to the club's rivals Real Madrid;[2] Bal is in fact a fan of Atlético Madrid.[3] He also successfully prosecuted Cristiano Ronaldo, Ángel Di María, Radamel Falcao, Luka Modrić and José Mourinho for the same crime.[4][5] He prosecuted in the Gürtel case, in which figures in the governing People's Party were convicted of corruption.[5]

Bal charged the organisers of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum with insurrection. He was dismissed in November 2018 after a change of government, with the new Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) administration not believing that it was an insurrection.[6]

Political career[]

In March 2019, Bal joined the Citizens party. He was placed fourth in their list for the Madrid constituency in the April 2019 general election.[7] He initially lost his seat following the November elections, but regained it after party leader Albert Rivera retired from politics.[8]

In March 2021, Bal received 89.4% of votes in the primary to lead Citizens in the Madrid regional elections in May.[9] The party ran a centrist campaign, competing against the far-right party Vox to be the junior partner to regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso's PP government.[10] In the elections in May, the party's vote share fell by 16 percentage points to 3.5%, resulting in the loss of all of their 26 seats.[10]

References[]

  1. ^ Marraco, Manuel (18 March 2019). "Edmundo Bal: el temido, el cesado, el fichado" [Edmundo Bal: the feared one, the fired one, the signed one]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  2. ^ "State lawyer responds to Pique: Stop presuming absurd conspiracies". Marca. 29 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  3. ^ La Casa, Rafa (6 November 2019). "Edmundo Bal: «Me parecería fenomenal que Guardiola fuera el seleccionador español»" [Edmundo Bal: "For me, it would be phenomenal if Guardiola could be manager of the Spain national team"] (in Spanish). A La Contra. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  4. ^ Rodero, Pablo (19 March 2021). "Bal: el azote de los independentistas y de los futbolistas defraudadores que aspira a evitar la debacle de Cs en Madrid" [Bal: the scourge of separatists and tax-dodging footballers who wishes to avoid Cs' debacle in Madrid]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  5. ^ a b Méndez, Rafael (21 November 2018). "Edmundo Bal, el progresista que acusó a los futbolistas y la Gürtel, cae por el 'procés'" [Edmundo Bal, the progressive who charged the footballers and the Gürtel, falls because of the 'procés']. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  6. ^ Marraco, Manuel (21 November 2018). "Delgado destituye al abogado del Estado que defendió acusar por rebelión en el juicio del 'procés'" [Delgado dismisses the State Lawyer who defended insurrection charge in the 'procés' trial]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Cs ficha a Edmundo Bal, abogado del Estado destituido por defender que hubo rebelión en el 'procés'" [Cs sign Edmundo Bal, State Lawyer dismissed for defending that there was an insurrection in the 'procés']. El Economista (in Spanish). 17 March 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  8. ^ Montalvo, Cristina (11 November 2019). "Los diez supervivientes de Ciudadanos" [The ten survivors of Citizens] (in Spanish). NIUS. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Edmundo Bal gana las primarias y será el candidato de Ciudadanos a la Comunidad de Madrid" [Edmundo Bal wins the primaries and will be Citizens' candidate in the Community of Madrid]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). 22 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  10. ^ a b Esteban, Paloma (5 May 2021). "Cs entra en 'shock' tras desaparecer de Madrid y prepara su manual de supervivencia" [Cs go into 'shock' after disappearing from Madrid and prepare their survival manual]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 May 2021.
Retrieved from ""