Snø Jens investigated for corruption

Seretary of Justice Dímeros Grenouille has revealed an investigation has been opened against Artist deputy Snø Jens-Galieri, and has recommended he be suspended from his parliamentary duties until the investigation concludes. The former Artists’ Guild leader is being accused of diverting campaign material for personal use, a criminal offence in Sabia and Verona.

The Justice Division has advanced they will press charges as soon as possible, as government sources say “evidence is not lacking“. This is not the first time a major issue with corruption hits the Jens family; it was only last year when the Koringate scandal, involving Snø’s brother, Berth, rocked the nation. Koringate nearly costed Prime Minister Virny his second term, and forced him to build a shaky alliance with the Leftists to form a second government.

According to the Justice Division’s intel, during his leadership of the National Artists’ Guild, Jens-Galieri would have used state-provided campaign material, namely paper and colored markers, to make origami. Though this action is be illegal on itself, the fact that the origami was not used to promote the National Artists’ Guild in the 2017 general election is.

Jens-Galieri is yet to make any official statements, but to his inner circle the MP has complained about the Justice Division’s “pestering”, and is dismissive of the investigation, calling it “nothing but political theater”. Though the MP is estranged from his parliamentary party, other Artists MPs have been quick to defend him behind closed doors, as reports of shows of solidarity to Jens-Galieri within the pink block in Parliament have surfaced.

An investigation against Jens-Galieri will prove cumbersome for everyone involved. Snø’s husband, Léon Jens-Galieri, is the sitting President of the Supreme Court, meaning the case would likely not fare well in the Kingdom’s highest court of law. Though The Honorable President’s record is spotless, sources close to Grenouille let slide that the Justice Secretary does not intend the case to get past a court of appeals.

The investigation is widely seen to be Prime Minister Dargany’s fulfillment of the Liberals’ campaign promises. Former Liberal leader Andrew Blackhorse ran extensively on an anti-corruption speech, and Dargany herself made grand promises of “securing the rule of law in the Kingdom”. This is indeed the first criminal investigation on someone of such high profile, at least since Haronos, and definitely the first since the establishment of the new justice system.

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