More time. The High Court of Catalonia (TSJC) announced today that it has revoked the March 14th resolution in which it closed the investigation against the speaker of the Parliament of Catalonia, Laura Borràs, and three other people in the case of splitting contracts when she was director of public cultural body the Institution of Catalan Literature (ILC) between 2014 and 2017. In the resolution, the investigating judge, Jordi Seguí, partially accepted the argument made by the speaker's defence lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, that her right to a defence had been violated, as she had not had access to all the information (in digital form) before the investigation ended. The prosecution also asked the judge for more time to examine the documentation against two defendants being tried in a lower-level investigative court in Barcelona, which have been added to this case. The judge, however, denies that there has been a "parallel trial", as the March resolution speaks of "indications" from this investigation, which will have to be proven at trial. The judge also invites Borràs to ask to testify before the court, as she complained that she has been unable to do so, although he reminds her that in the Supreme Court she refused. All parties now have fifteen days to examine the nine volumes and, if necessary, request further evidence. The judge will then have to issue a new resolution for her prosecution, and finally a decision to open a trial.
In the ruling last month, the judge stated that Borràs had “abused her position” and that there was evidence to try all four of the accused for continuing offences of abuse of administrative authority, administrative fraud, forgery of a commercial document and a continuing offence of misuse of public funds. The total funds misused amount to 309,000 euros. Boye, the speaker's lawyer, complained on Twitter: "The media reports that the TSJC has made a ruling partially upholding the appeal we filed against the resolution sending to trial the case of @Laura Borràs in which we allege constant leaks to the media... this ruling has also been leaked to the media.”
Evidence
In the resolution, the investigating TSJC judge details the eighteen minor contracts (of 18,000 euros each) that Laura Borràs as director of the Institute approved for computer services on the ILC website between 2014 and 2017. Of this total, six were granted to Isaías Herrero, amounting to 112,502 euros. The court document also details that Borràs and Herrero knew each other before, having both worked in Hermeneia, a literary research body. Borràs and Herrero were assisted by Roger, Isaiah's brother-in-law, and Andreu, the ILC's head of administrative management, in carry out the alleged criminal actions, and these two will also be tried. The judge explains that there are e-mails in which Borràs explains to Herrero how to present budget proposals with his name and those of others concealed, such as through the Xarxa Integral cooperative, which won some of the tenders and paid Herrero about 22,000 euros.
Today's decision
In today’s resolution, judge Seguí stated that the 2016 European directive does indeed state that the presumption of innocence of every person under investigation must be protected, but that in the court's ruling it did not classify anyone as guilty “but rather, limits itself to sending someone to trial for formal accusation”, as foreseen by Spanish criminal prosecution law. However, he admits that the parties only had seven days to examine the nine volumes of material held by the lower-level court in Barcelona on the other two people who are accused of helping in the preparation of invoices, and that this was little time to guarantee the right to a defence, which is why he is now extending the deadline.
As for the violation of the right to a defence claimed by Borràs because the TSJC had not summoned her to testify, the judge ruled that the Supreme Court had summoned her in 2020, because of her status as an MP in the Spanish Congress, and that at that time she exercised her right not to testify because a report was missing. And the judge of the TSJC adds that as there is no new change in this situation he did not summon her to testify, but that she can now request her right to give evidence, because "it is her right". The case, therefore, takes several few steps back, while opposition groups in the Catalan chamber insist that the speaker of the house must step down from her parliamentary role when a trial is opened against her.