In May of this year, the National Court once again put a stop to the tricks of the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to reward senior retired officials he trusted with pension medals from the Police. The Central Court of Instance charged in a “harsh” sentence against this common practice and determined that the Interior had used a discretionary power “designed to reward heroic merit” with the sole objective of “financially rewarding the retirement of senior officers,” which implies a “paradigmatic case of diversion of power.”
It was not the first time that a sentence stopped the feet of the head of the Interior. In 2024, the high court annulled the granting of another seven silver medals to seven retired police officers, as well as 49 red crosses to active officers, all of them with a lifetime financial bonus. Now, the Central Contentious Court once again knocks down another eight Silver Medals awarded in January of this same year to certain main commissioners, whose objective was none other than “to perpetuate a scandalous practice to dope the pension of some elected officials“, as the Spanish Police Confederation (CEP) has been denouncing for years. Because entering the Order of Police Merit with the Silver Cross can mean up to 4,000 euros more per year for life for positions of trust in Marlaska.
In this way, as explained by this police union, the various judicial resolutions not only fully consider the arguments put forward against what they describe as “cacicada”, but also describe with “extreme severity” the actions of the Administration. The most forceful ruling so far, that of the National Court, accused the ministry headed by Grande-Marlaska of converting decorations reserved for extraordinary merit, risk and self-sacrifice into “a system of covert remuneration for certain senior police officers at the end of his professional career.” And all of this, as established in the sentence itself, under the “fiction of a non-existent concrete fact” to justify the granting of this type of recognition.
The approving ruling of the Central Contentious Court, released this Tuesday, endorses the foundations of the ruling of the National Court and determines that the decision of the Ministry of the Interior to grant entry into the Order of Police Merit in the Silver Medal modality, to a total of eight retired officials, all of them with the category of Principal Commissioner, “is not justified.” Therefore, it annuls that administrative resolution “for not being in accordance with the law” and leaves it “without any effect.”
“Embarrassment” for thousands of police officers
The resolution dismantled the Interior arguments one by one and concluded that it did not exist in the administrative file “not a single mention of a physical risksingular intervention or extraordinary self-sacrifice” that would justify the awarding of silver medals that entail a lifetime pension equivalent to 15% of the salary, as explained by the CEP.
Now it has happened again, the Central Court of Instance number 1 of Madrid, endorsing once again the foundations of the ruling of the National Court, highlights that the proposals for granting the Silver Medal to the eight retired Chief Commissioners, which materialized in the appealed Order, “They do not even comply with the applicable legal regulationnor to the internal instructions of the General Directorate of the Police for such concession. Specifically, it stipulates that “none of the eight recipients have a fact or any extraordinary performance that justifies the granting of said decoration“.
In this way, a court once again overturns the system that was born and died with the previous DAO of the National Police and that, in the opinion of the Spanish Confederation of the Police, has represented a “source of embarrassment for thousands of police officers who risk their lives daily, at all levels.” In this sense, they denounce that many agents saw how just by holding a position in the Government Board or being in charge of a Superior Headquarters, some “They went home with their shirts heavier and their pockets bulging”.
From this police union they point out that, no matter how much Grande-Marlaska and his team appeal the sentences, “This battle is not over.” In fact, the agents have been forced to appeal to the Constitutional Court in the face of an attempt by the Contentious Chamber of the National Court of “prevent unions from appealing these types of decisions”. A decision “as striking as it is sudden”, according to the union. And although they are not clear about their options for victory, they are clear that “they will fight until the end.”
This type of sentence puts the focus on a system of decorations designed 62 years ago and that lacks the standards of “objectivity, transparency, justice and encouragement of extraordinary police actions”, as appropriate. Its objective, to achieve a new Law of Decorations that “do not take away a single police reward from professionals of this Body to give it to hundreds of people outside the institution.