An operation is underway by the Civil Guard, Spain's gendarmerie, against the organisation of last year's Catalan independence referendum, by orders from Barcelona's court number 13. The agents are investigating whether public funds were used to pay for referendum advertising.
The police have detained the Catalan director general of Communication and Broadcasting, Antoni Molons, according to investigation sources, and are carrying out simultaneous searches at the Secretariat of Broadcasting and Attention to the Public and the headquarters of pro-independence organisation Òmnium Cultural.
The operation started at 8am at Antoni Molons's house. Later, a number of Civil Guard agents arrived at the Catalan government palace in Barcelona, looking for documentation about the cost of the referendum for the government. They also entered Òmnium Cultural to gather information about the financing of referendum advertisements.
The operation follows statements made to the court in recent days by leaders of the businesses which took charge of the campaign among the 30 accused in the case.
The police have searched the Secretariat of Broadcasting and Attention to the Public, headquartered at the government palace. Antoni Molons, the department's director general, was present during the search which lasted little more than an hour. He was then taken to the Civil Guard building on Travessera de les Corts.
During the search at Òmnium Cultural, the police held seven workers in room along with various members of the body's leadership, according to sources from the organisation.
The agents copied workers' emails and changed passwords. The organisation says that the Civil Guard haven't entered the private homes of any members of their national board.
Police sources say that there are no more searches or arrests planned. The operation is under a secrecy injunction. In fact, it's the only part of the whole case being kept secret, to enable the searches to take place. There was another secret file earlier this year which led to searches of the headquarters of Òmnium and the Catalan National Assembly.
Referendum campaign
Today's searches follow testimony from suspects who were in charge of preparing and deploying the 'yes' campaign for last year's Catalan independence referendum. All those accused have testified that they never charged the Catalan government for anything. For other reasons, because they didn't know which department to invoice.
They received the job via an intermediary who initially identified themselves as responsible for design for the Catalan government, but who later said they were a third party. Nobody has identified this intermediary, nor were they named in any email or call. In fact, they don't appear anywhere in the court documentation.
Nor were contracts drawn up. Ricardo Martí, one of those accused, said he received the job by phone. No documents are known to list details of the contract process.
Today the police are looking for evidence to prove a direct link between the government and the 'yes' campaign.
Molons released
Sources close to the investigation say that Antoni Molons was released shortly after 4pm. He declined to testify, not replying to the Civil Guard's questions. The police kept his mobile looking for evidence linking him to the campaign. He is accused of the crimes of disobedience and misuse of public funds. He is now waiting to testify before the judge who will decide whether or not to bring charges.