A period for the gathering, submission and consideration of evidence shall be
opened in the following instances:
a) When so requested by the political party concerned during the allegations period
established in the previous article, proposing the specific means of proof.
b) When, in the absence of a specific request by the political party concerned, the
examining magistrate deems it necessary in order to clarify the facts and to establish who is
responsible. In this case, the examining magistrate shall give a period of five days to the
parties concerned to propose the means of proof they deem opportune.
c) The period for the gathering, submission and consideration of evidence shall last
thirty working days.
d) The examination of the evidence shall be carried out in accordance with that
established in article 81 of Law 30/1992, on the Legal System for Public Administrations
and the Common Administrative Procedure.
Three. Once the period for the gathering, submission and consideration of evidence has
concluded, the examining magistrate shall issue a proposal for settlement, which must
contain:
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1) If it is upheld that an infringement and liability exists:
a) The facts considered to be proven and the weighing up of the evidence on which that
consideration is based.
b) The political party considered to be responsible, the legal principles and the weighing
up of the evidence on which that consideration is based.
c) The legal principles characterising the infringements under which the events are
considered to be classed, and the reasons for that consideration, which can only be those
that appear in sections a) and b) of article 17 of this Law.
d) The penalties considered to be appropriate, as per the terms of article 17 of the
Organic Law on the funding of political parties, the legal principles on which the penalties
are based, the circumstances considered, the legal principles and the weighing up of the
evidence on which that consideration is based, as well as, where appropriate, the proposal
to suspend, fraction or modify the enforcement of the penalty and the reasons for the
proposal.
2) If it is upheld that no infringement or liability exists:
a) The acquittal proposal.
Four. The acquittal proposal shall be notified to the interested parties, informing them
that they have a period of fifteen days to submit allegations. In the notification, the
interested parties shall also be informed that during said period the dossier of the case shall
be made available to them for consultation and making copies of documents.
Once the submission of allegations period has ended, the examining judge shall
immediately submit the proposal for settlement to the full bench of the Court of Auditors,
together with the documents, allegations and information held in the dossier, for a
judgement to be delivered.
Five. The examining magistrate, stating his or her grounds, may extend the abovementioned
allegations and evidence periods only once by a number of days equal to or
fewer than the number of days established above for said periods, provided that, owing to
the volume and nature of the evidence to be examined, the complexity of the factual
situations and the legal questions analysed or other appropriate reasons, such extension is
considered to be necessary to adequately establish the facts in issue and the responsibilities
or to guarantee the effective defence of the accused.
Six. Decisions by the examining magistrate to refuse the opening of a period for the
gathering, submission and consideration of evidence or for examining any means of proof
proposed by the parties may be appealed within a period of three days, and the examining
judge’s failure to reply to the application for appeal shall mean that the application has been
dismissed.
Seven. The full bench of the Court of Auditors shall deliver a reasoned judgement which
shall address all the aspects put forward by the political party concerned and those derived
from the proceedings. The judgement settling the proceedings shall contain the information
established in section three of this article.
The full bench of the Court of Auditors, the competent authority to deliver a judgement,
may only make changes to the statement of facts provided in the proposal for settlement in
order to clarify them or take others into account only when such changes are beneficial to
the accused. In the decision, the competent authority to deliver a judgement shall give the
specific reasons for making such changes to the statement of facts.
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If the judgement is not notified within a period of six months from the initiation of the
proceedings, it means that the action has lapsed. The lapsing of the above-mentioned sixmonth