The salary David Sánchez earned as coordinator of conservatories at the Diputación de Badajoz is not subject to repayment, the Audiencia Provincial de Badajoz ruled. On 14 July 2026, the court sentenced him to nine years of special disqualification from public employment or office and from standing for election, finding him a necessary participant in an administrative-prevarication offence linked to his appointment. Luis María Carrero, whose 2023 recruitment was also examined in the case, received the same disqualification. Neither man was ordered to repay wages, and the judgment imposed no prison sentence.
The disputed position was created in 2017 and awarded to David Sánchez, a musician. The court found that the coordinator post lacked demonstrated institutional need and substantive content, and that its creation served a particular interest rather than the general interest. It also examined Sánchez’s work, concluding that it did not match the duties set out when the post was created. Instead, it was connected with the provincial administration’s Proyecto Ópera Joven. Carrero’s appointment was considered in relation to the continuation of those projects, although the two men formally worked in different departments.
The verdict addresses a basic point raised by the popular accusers, who sought to have Sánchez and Carrero return the funds paid by the Diputación. The court said repayment could be pursued only by parties with standing, such as the provincial authority that paid the salaries or the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The Diputación did not present itself as an injured party, while the Public Prosecutor sought Sánchez’s acquittal. The court also indicated that a claim to recover public funds could fall within the remit of the Tribunal de Cuentas, Spain’s court of auditors, rather than the criminal court.
The ruling acquitted Sánchez of the separate influence-peddling allegation while retaining the administrative-prevarication conviction. The nine-year disqualification is distinct from a prison sentence. Information from reporting on the judgment, its consequences for public employment would apply once the conviction becomes final. The decision was not final: Sánchez’s defence and the Public Prosecutor’s Office sought his acquittal on appeal, with review by the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Extremadura identified as the next stage. A further appeal to the Tribunal Supremo may follow.
The outcome has drawn attention to the procedural limits of Spanish criminal proceedings when seeking civil recovery after administrative misconduct. The court’s ruling on the salary claim turned on who had requested repayment and which body could hear such a claim; it did not order Sánchez to repay the wages. The case also illustrates the separate roles of criminal courts and the Tribunal de Cuentas in determining criminal responsibility and recovering public funds. For further background on the proceedings and the public-office disqualification, see this related report on the court’s decision.
