Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office

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Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office
Fiscalía Anticorrupción
Emblem of the Spanish Prosecutors

Audiencia Nacional's Headquarters
Agency overview
Formed24 April 1995 (24 April 1995)
JurisdictionSpain
Headquarters4 Manuel Silvela Street, Madrid
Employees131 (2024)
Agency executives
  • Alejandro Luzón Cánovas, Chief Prosecutor
  • Antonio Romeral Moraleda, Lieutenant Prosecutor
Parent agency
Prosecution Ministry
Websitewww.fiscal.es

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, officially Special Prosecutor's Office Against Corruption and Organized Crime, is a specialized office of the Spanish Prosecution Ministry responsible for the investigation of serious offences related to financial crimes, political corruption and those related to organized crime. It also coordinates the actions of other public prosecutor's offices throughout the country that handle cases within its jurisdiction. Although this prosecutor's office acts before the Audiencia Nacional, it is not part of the Public Prosecutor's Office before that court. Its headquarters are located in the mansion at number 4 Manuel Silvela Street, Madrid.

The Prosecutor's Office is headed by a top-level prosecutor—a Supreme Court Prosecutor—with the title of Chief Prosecutor. Since July 2017, Alejandro Luzón Cánovas has served as Anti-Corruption Chief Prosecutor.[1]

Powers

According to Article 19.4 of the Prosecution Ministry Organic Statute (EOMF), the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Corruption and Organized Crime is responsible for investigating and taking part in criminal procedures related to the following offences:[2]

  • Offences against the Public Treasury, against Social Security, and smuggling.
  • Malfeasance.
  • Abuse or misuse of privileged information.
  • Embezzlement.
  • Fraud and illegal exactions.
  • Influence peddling.
  • Bribery.
  • Prohibited negotiations by public officials.
  • Fraud.
  • Punishable insolvency.
  • Price fixing in public tenders and auctions.
  • Offences related to intellectual and industrial property, the market, and consumers.
  • Corporate offences.
  • Money laundering and related conduct such as receiving stolen goods, except when, due to their connection with drug trafficking or terrorism offences, jurisdiction over such conduct lies with other Special Prosecutor's Offices.
  • Corruption in international business transactions.
  • Corruption in the private sector.
  • Offences related to the above.
  • The investigation of all types of legal business, transactions or movements of goods, securities or capital, economic flows or patrimonial assets, which appear to be related to the activity of organized criminal groups or to the economic exploitation of criminal activities, as well as the related or determining crimes of such activities; except when, due to their relationship with drug trafficking or terrorism crimes, the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office or the National Court's Prosecutor's Office is responsible for knowing about said conduct.

Organization

According to the staffing plan of the Public Prosecutor's Office approved by Royal Decree 422/2025, of June 3, the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office is made up of a Chief Prosecutor of the first category, a Deputy Prosecutor and 27 Prosecutors, all of the second category.[3] In addition to the central organization, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office had 23 permanent delegated prosecutors and six temporary ones in certain provinces and municipalities at the end of 2024. As for the civil servants of the Prosecutor's Office, the staff includes 31 permanent and temporary civil servants.[4]

Furthermore, to assist the Special Prosecutor's Office, there are support units from the Tax Agency, the Office of the Comptroller General of the State, the National Police Corps, and the Civil Guard.[4]

History

It was created in 1995, during prime minister Felipe González's fourth term, through Law 10/1995 of April 24, with Juan Alberto Belloch as Minister of Justice and Carlos Granados Pérez as Attorney General. The first Chief Prosecutor was Carlos Jiménez Villarejo, who held the post until 2003.[5]

Later, when Jesús Cardenal was Attorney General, he proposed the suppression of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, considering that "it would be good that this should fall within the competence of all prosecutors, just as the others are not considered specializations, in the sense that they do not have a special Prosecutor’s Office except for drug-related offences".[6] This proposal, which was rejected by the political opposition and prosecutors' associations, and which was ignored by the Aznar government, did not succeed.[7]

By 2004, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office was on the verge of disappearing, following the conflicts arising from the dismissal of Jiménez Villarejo.[8] It had only ten prosecutors, nine in Madrid, and one in Barcelona, with a central office located in an apartment in Madrid, and only one Delegated Prosecutor's Office in Catalonia.[9]

During the term of his successor, Magistrate Cándido Conde-Pumpido, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office was strengthened, reforming the Organic Statute in 2007, to give it new powers, turning it into the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Corruption and Organized Crime.[10][11] In this regard, a year earlier Conde-Pumpido had created six new territorial delegations in conflictive areas of the coast, and from that moment on the staff began to be reinforced, both at the headquarters and in the delegations.[9] By 2011, the Prosecutor's Office had 40 prosecutors,[9] its headquarters were moved to an independent building at Manuel Silvela Street[12] and the territorial structure was integrated by a dozen of delegated prosecutor's offices, in addition to strengthening the four support teams available to the Prosecutor's Office, drawn from the Office of the Comptroller General of the State, the Tax Agency, the National Police Corps and the Civil Guard.[9]

Anti-Corruption Chief Prosecutor

The Chief Prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Corruption and Organized Crime is a first-class prosecutor, appointed by the Monarch, on the advice of the Government, on the proposal of the Attorney General of the State, after consulting the Fiscal Council, for a period of five years, renewable.

List of chief prosecutors

Since the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office was founded in 1995, four people have held the position of Chief Prosecutor. The longest-serving was Antonio Salinas Casado, with 13 years, 214 days between 2003 and 2017. Manuel Moix Blázquez served the shortest time as Chief Prosecutor, holding the position for 98 days.

Name Tenure Ref.
Start End Duration
1 Carlos Jiménez Villarejo
(born 1935)		 13 October 1995 25 July 2003 7 years, 285 days [13]
2 Antonio Salinas Casado
(born 1946)		 25 July 2003 24 February 2017 13 years, 214 days [14]
3 Manuel Moix
(born 1958)		 24 February 2017 2 June 2017 98 days [15][16]
4 Alejandro Luzón Cánovas
(born 1964)		 2 June 2017 Incumbent 9 years, 28 days [17]

References

  1. Pérez, Fernando J. (5 July 2017). "Alejandro Luzón sustituirá a Moix como fiscal jefe Anticorrupción". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  2. Royal Household (13 January 1982). "Ley 50/1981, de 30 de diciembre, por la que se regula el Estatuto Orgánico del Ministerio Fiscal". Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  3. Ministry of Justice (4 June 2025). "Real Decreto 422/2025, de 3 de junio, por el que se dotan nuevas plazas en Secciones de Violencia sobre la Mujer, se crean Secciones de Violencia contra la Infancia y la Adolescencia, y se amplía y modifica la plantilla orgánica del Ministerio Fiscal". Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  4. Prosecution Ministry (2024). "Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office - 2025 Annual Report - Staff changes and organization" (PDF). www.fiscal.es. pp. 567–568. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  5. Cuadra, Bonifacio de la (12 July 2003). "Jueces para la Democracia cree que el cese de Villarejo es una depuración política". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  6. "Cardenal se muestra partidario de suprimir la Fiscalía Anticorrupción". www.elmundo.es (in Spanish). 10 July 2003. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  7. Aizpeolea, Luis R. (12 July 2003). "El escándalo de Madrid zanja el debate interno en el Gobierno sobre la supresión de Anticorrupción". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Archived from the original on 1 April 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  8. Cuadra, Bonifacio de la (22 July 2003). "Los fiscales defenderán hoy frente a Cardenal que Jiménez Villarejo siga en Anticorrupción". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  9. García Quesada, Marcos (2 February 2025). "Quién es Cándido Conde-Pumpido: presidente del Constitucional, ex Fiscal General y fundador de la Asociación Jueces para la Democracia". infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  10. Jefatura del Estado (10 October 2007), Ley 24/2007, de 9 de octubre, por la que se modifica la Ley 50/1981, de 30 de diciembre, reguladora del Estatuto Orgánico del Ministerio Fiscal (in Spanish), pp. 41197–41214, retrieved 20 May 2026
  11. "La Fiscalía Anticorrupción actuará a partir de ahora contra las mafias". www.elmundo.es (in Spanish). 18 October 2004. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  12. Rivero, Calixto (12 July 2011). "Anticorrupción estrena palacete en Madrid". www.expansion.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 May 2026.
  13. Aizpeolea, Luis R.; Díez, Anabel (14 October 1995). "Jiménez Villarejo, nombrado fiscal anticorrupción". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  14. Guindal, Carlota (27 January 2013). "Antonio Salinas, un leal Fiscal Anticorrupción". elconfidencial.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  15. "Manuel Moix será el nuevo fiscal jefe de Anticorrupción y Jesús Alonso, fiscal jefe de la Audiencia". Expansión.com (in Spanish). 22 February 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  16. MENÉNDEZ, MARÍA (1 June 2017). "Moix dimite como fiscal Anticorrupción tras el escándalo por su participación en una sociedad en Panamá". RTVE.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  17. Marraco, Manuel (5 July 2017). "El fiscal general elige a Alejandro Luzón como nuevo jefe de Anticorrupción". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 May 2026.