JxCat has sent the other parties in the Catalan Parliament a hard-hitting draft bill to create an investigatory commission into the "structures of corruption linked to the Spanish royal family and to people who are or have been related to it" and alleged irregular accounts belonging to the king emeritus, Juan Carlos I, in Switzerland and other fiscal paradises. Among the alleged irregular or criminal activities of people linked to the royal family are some aimed at "forcing the moving of the registered headquarters of banks, large companies and multinationals out of the territory of Catalonia".
According to the bill, the main objectives are to investigate the "structures of corruption" and the moving of registered headquarters. Third is to investigate the "alleged irregular accounts of the former head of state in Switzerland and other fiscal paradises in the names of third parties, the provenance of this capital, and the other irregular or criminal activities by these people which could stem from the statements by Mrs Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein".
In the motivation for the bill, they list the efforts made by Felipe VI to promote moves by registered offices, as well as the Balearic Islands Audience sentence in the Nóos cas which considered it proven that the husband of infanta Cristina, Iñaki Urdangarin, benefited from his position as a member of the royal family to commit crimes of malfeasance and misuse of public funds.
"The Parliament, which represents the people of Catalonia, has the political obligation to investigate the allegedly irregular or criminal activities carried out by people linked to the royal family and the highest representation of the state," says the bill. It adds that this commission is all the more necessary since the Congress' governing board blocked a proposal to create a similar commission in Madrid.
For the commission to move ahead, it needs the support of two parliamentary groups or a fifth of the deputies, according to the Parliament's rules. Article 67 states that parliamentary groups can create an investigation commission "on any matter of public interest which is within the Catalan government's competences".
The commission's conclusions would have to be approved by the Parliament in plenary session and communicated to the Catalan government and "the Parliament's board can also communicate them to public prosecutors".
Commissions can include a number specialists, equal to, but not greater than, the number of deputies they have as members. Currently, ERC has shown willingness to support the plan, which would give it the necessary support to move ahead.
In October, the Catalan Parliament passed a bill censuring king Felipe VI and calling for the abolition of the monarchy, a bill the central government has appealed to the Constitutional Court. Barcelona city council then passed a similar bill, even after the decision by Madrid.