Expert Report in Sancho Sempere Corruption Case Raises New Legal Questions
José Antonio Sancho Sempere's defence has submitted to a Valencia court an expert report by councillor Carlos Julián Zahera disputing the registered status of the Academia Valenciana de Juristas.
Prosecutors and complainants in the criminal case against José Antonio Sancho Sempere — former secretary of Canet d'en Berenguer (Camp de Morvedre) town council, who is presumed innocent unless proven guilty — have asked the court for the full text of an expert report by councillor Carlos Julián Zahera. According to press sources, Zahera previously approved contracts and countersigned invoices linked to the very Academia Valenciana de Juristas whose legal status he now disputes as an expert. The complainants suspect the report may itself constitute a criminal offence.
Sancho Sempere's wife and daughter are also named in the proceedings. Charges under examination include administrative abuse of office (prevaricación, article 404 of the Spanish Penal Code — punishable with a 9-to-15-year ban from public office, with no custodial sentence), along with misappropriation of public funds and alleged corruption.
Spanish law requires court-appointed expert witnesses to act with full objectivity, weighing arguments for and against each party equally, under pain of civil, criminal and professional sanctions. The complainants argue that a councillor who actively took part in the contract chain under investigation cannot meet that independence standard. The case remains at the preliminary investigation stage. Reported by El Periódico de Aquí.