Shamed ex-chief justice drops compensation claim

Carlos Dívar, the disgraced former Supreme Court chief justice and president of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), has decided to give up his fight to claim more than 200,000 euros in compensation he was demanding following his resignation from both positions on June 21.

Dívar, 70, was forced to step down after it was revealed that he spent 28,000 euros in judiciary money for 32 weekend trips to Marbella and other tourist destinations between 2008 and March this year. He was demanding that the CGPJ compensate him under the law for 208,243 euros, which is 80 percent of his salary that he was entitled to receive. But in a statement released late Monday, the council secretary general Celso Rodríguez Padrón said Dívar had withdrawn his claim. In July, the CGPJ debated the issue and decided in a 12-to-eight decision to ask the Treasury for the special budgetary allotment to pay off Dívar.

A further vote was due to be held later this month. Sources at the council said Monday that because of the country's current financial situation and the scandal surrounding Dívar's resignation, panel members would have voted down the former chief justice's claim. Dívar reached retirement age at the end of last year and has started to receive a state pension.