Spain's public auditing body the Court of Accounts is claiming a total of 5,422,899.48 euros from the 40 former and present Catalan government officials and public servants accused of misusing public funds through allocating the budget for foreign promotion to the Catalan independence process.
The audit institution's calculation of the total to be deposited is 5,251,146 euros principal, plus 271,723.48 euros interest. This amount has been decided by adding together the expenditure related to Catalonia's Diplocat offices abroad and the amount calculated as having been spent in the organizational expenses for the 1st October referendum.
However, the amounts of liability defined for each of the defendants add up to much more than the 5.4 million euro total calculated by the Court of Accounts as owing - there are nine officials and politicians who have been ordered to hand over sums of at least 1.7 million euros each. This is because the responsibility is deemed to be joint and several, so that in the event that one of the defendants does not have enough assets to cover their part of the total, another will have to assume a greater part of the bail. In each one of the blocks of expenditure investigated, the amount which each person has to assume has been set, and they are required to deposit this money until the 5.4 million euro sum is reached.
The 504-page report - which lawyers had only a few hours to read before they were expected to present submissions in reply - breaks down the costs and deposits demanded from each of the defendants to cover the total claimed. The official with the highest bail is Albert Royo, former secretary general of Diplocat. He is expected to turn over 3.6 million euros in money and assets to the audit body. The politician who has the highest bail is Francesc Homs, minister of the presidency from 2012 to 2016. Catalan president Artur Mas is being asked for bail of 2,803,115.96 euros. This is the largest amount for any cabinet position and he is the person most affected by the Court of Accounts report, along with former economy minister Andreu Mas-Colell, who has been asked to hand over 2,803,115.96 euros.
Next in the pecking order is the foreign minister in the 2016-17 government, Raül Romeva. The bond set for him is 2,108,818.32 euros. President Carles Puigdemont is asked by the Court of Accounts for 1,981,454.47 euros and his former vice-president and economy minister Oriol Junqueras is asked by the court for 1,980,395.68 euros.
Here is the complete list of the deposits that the Court of Accounts claims from the 35 former senior officials of the government of the Generalitat de Catalonia:
- Albert Royo: 3,633,253.85 euros
- Mireia Vidal: 3,164,694.10 euros
- Francesc Homs: 2,952,689.85 euros
- Andreu Mas-Colell: 2,803,115.96 euros
- Artur Mas: 2,803,115.96 euros
- Raül Romeva: 2,108,838.32 euros
- Oriol Junqueras: 1,981,475.02 euros
- Carles Puigdemont: 1,981,474.47 euros
- Rosa Vidal: 1,735,885.74 euros
- Sergi Marcén: 177,952.73 euros
- Joaquim Nin: 163,889.75 euros
- Aleix Villatoro: 150,812.42 euros
- Andrew Scott Davis: 148,538.86 euros
- Jordi Vilajoana: 147,168.45 euros
- Manuel Manonelles: 141,187.33 euros
- Adam Casals: 136,829.79 euros
- Josep M. Suárez: 115,103.60 euros
- Luca Bellizzi Cerri: 95,747.54 euros
- Andrew Scott: 92,843.61 euros
- Amadeu Altafaj: 66,609.94 euros
- Marie Katinka: 49,130.73 euros
- Roger Albyniana: 38,666.56 euros
- Martí Anglada: 34,691.61 euros
- Ewa Adela Cylwik: 29,456.38 euros
- Maryse Olivé: 22,725.27 euros
- Mar Ortega: 15,833.64 euros
- Ramón Font: 12,300.00 euros
- Maria Badia: 7,198.17 euros
- Jordi Solé: 6,363.59 euros
- Luis Bertran: 5,122.96 euros
- Eric Hauck: 4,794.72 euros
- Albert Carreras: 4,291.92 euros
- Francesca Guardiola: 3,039.42 euros
- Pere Puig: 1,117.69 euros
- David Mascort: 1,058.79 euros
The report of the Court of Accounts is supposed to audit the expenses of the Catalan government delegations abroad and the travel of presidents and ministers. The amounts are allocated according to the degree of participation in this operation. Expenditure that is directly related to the independence process is still part of the foreign action budget of the Catalan government, an expense which is constitutionally provided for via Catalonia's Statute of Autonomy.
The Court of Accounts gave lawyers only three hours to read a report which is more than 500 pages long. Once they had skimmed it, the lawyers had 10 minutes to present their responses. In fact, the legal representatives arrived at the auditing body's headquarters already knowing the figure that was to be communicated to them, which had been leaked to the press. Defence lawyers were indignant both about this leak and, more generally, by the politicization of the court, and they question the process launched against the Catalan government's Diplocat accounts - given that the Catalan Statute of Autonomy, part of Spanish law, specifically allows the foreign promotion of the Catalan government.
In addition to the defendants' lawyers, the plaintiffs are also cited to appear: they are the Spanish public prosecutors, the state solicitors (who represent the Spanish government directly), and two private prosecutions as allowed under Spanish law: Catalan Lawyers for the Constitution and Catalan Civil Society, both anti-independence pressure groups.
It is expected that the proceedings will continue until tomorrow and that over the next few hours, as the figure is communicated to each of the defendants, their lawyers will present their submissions immediately.