Spain's Court of Accounts has rejected the guarantees provided by the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) to cover the 5.4 million euros in bail it is demanding from 34 former senior Catalan government officials on the grounds that they used Catalan government foreign affairs funds to promote the independence process abroad. Today's announcement by the public auditing tribunal of its resolution comes on the same day that the Spanish government and the opposition Popular Party have reached an agreement to unblock judicial renewals affecting, among other bodies, this tribunal. Before being removed from office, the members of this body have reached a decision on the Catalan independence case that has been on their desks since the beginning of summer.
The ICF assumed responsibility for the bail guarantees for most of the 34 former senior officials after no private sector bank showed interest in backing the Complementary Risk Fund created by the Catalan economy ministry to cover the bonds. The Court of Accounts' investigating delegate for the case, Esperanza García, argues that neither the legislation nor the Catalan government's decree on the Complementary Fund protects "conduct that is malicious or marked by actions committed with negligence or wrongful behaviour."
Asset seizures begin
Neither the Catalan government nor the Catalan Institute of Finance have been informed of the resolution, which was first leaked by the Spanish newspaper El País, and then confirmed by the Court of Auditors in a press release.
The statement from the public auditing tribunal also announces that the assets of the people whose bail was backed by the ICF guarantee will be seized. "With the period granted to deposit or guarantee the alleged accounting responsibilities having expired, the seizure of the assets and rights will proceed for those people who, having been declared to be allegedly responsible for the accounts, provided the guarantees," it informs.
Spanish state solicitors took no stand
The auditing body took this decision after the Spanish government's legal representatives before the court refused to rule on it as requested by the court, and elevated the matter to the State Solicitors' Office, which also refused to take a stand arguing that it was not appropriate.
Of the 34 former presidents, ministers and officials in the Catalan government prosecuted by the Court of Accounts, 29 had made use of the guarantees offered by the Complementary Risk Fund and thus presented the guarantees from the ICF to cover their bail.
Among the political leaders ordered to pay bail are former Catalan presidents Carles Puigdemont and Artur Mas, from whom the tribunal demanded 1.9 and 2.8 million euros respectively, as well as ex-vice president Oriol Junqueras, also required to hand over 1.9 million euros.
The highest bail figure is that for former general secretary of the Diplocat network of Catalan offices abroad, Albert Royo, from whom the Court of Accounts stipulated 3.6 million euros in bail; the former Comptroller General of the Catalan government Mireia Vidal, with 3.1 million, and ex-ministers Francesc Homs and Andreu Mas-Colell, with 2.9 and 2.8 million euros respectively.
In the main image, the façade of the Court of Auditors in Madrid / Europa Press