Spain's Civil Guard militarised police has given Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena a final report on those implicated in the Catalan independence process, citing some 50 names and giving individual descriptions of the actions taken by the 28 under investigation by the Supreme Court. It separates those allegedly involved into a strategic committee of the independence process (20) and an executive committee (30), with Jordi Turull, current candidate for investiture as president of Catalonia, the first name on the latter.
The report describes Turull as an "extraordinarily important" person for the independence process, says that he took part in six preparatory meetings and that he was responsible for the publicity and broadcasting campaign. The police force claim that Turull sent a letter asking Catalan economy minister Oriol Junqueras for 3.4 million euros (£3.0 million, $4.2 million) for a civil campaign "that in reality aimed to promote the referendum".
This is the Civil Guard's coup de grace against Jordi Turull, 24 hours before he is to appear before the judge for a hearing to review the interim measures against him. He and five fellow deputies have to face this predicament with the possibility of the public prosecution asking for them to be imprisoned until the trial starts. That could involve the candidate for president of Catalonia, awaiting a second round vote, being sent back to pretrial detention awaiting trial.
The judge will also tomorrow inform the lawyers representing the 28 people accused in the case of the charges their clients are finally accused of. Based on these charges, and Turull's speech in the Parliament today, public prosecutors will ask for prison or not. And now there's a new element in play: a Civil Guard report presented as events crescendo.
The report was based on the document Enfocats, a Moleskine agenda seized from Josep Maria Jové, bugged telephones, confiscated emails and public speeches.
The Civil Guard believe they have the evidence to prove the spending of at least 701,511 euros on last year's referendum by the ministry headed by Turull. This includes the 198,871 euros they paid towards an invoice from Unipost to cover the provision of voting slips, the electoral record and other material to polling stations. The total cost for postal services was 979,661 euros, split between 5 departments.
3.43 million euros for the referendum
On top of this, Turull's department is alleged to have paid 502,639 euros towards the design and deployment of adverts announcing the holding of the referendum and towards the register of Catalans living abroad. This, however, is less than the 3.43 million they had requested. The total will, however, also include money for related websites.
Among the evidence offered to judge Llarena, they say the website for the referendum "was also managed in part by the Presidency [ministry]". They say that Jordi Graells, a senior official in the department "refused to receive the order from the Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia in which he was ordered to block the website".
Graells claimed he couldn't contact his superior, Antoni Molons (arrested and released facing charges last week by order of a Barcelona court), nor Carles Corcoll, the person responsible at the Telecommunications & Information Technology Centre.
The report also states that Turull, as a member of the Catalan government, took part in formalising the decree calling the 1st October referendum and the agreement under which he was entrusted with executing the referendum. "He took on the responsibility of the collective decisions which were adopted for this end", according to the police, who add that "in fact, the agreement was passed by proposal" of Junqueras, Romeva and Turull himself.
The 6 meetings
For the Civil Guard, although Turull didn't become minister for the presidency until July 2017 (he had previously been head of the JxSí group in the Parliament), he was a person "tremendously close to the independence process and very important" to Convergència, the pro-independence party that was later reformed as PDeCAT.
They deduce this from his participation in the six meetings which appear in the so-called "agenda of the process". The meetings took place between 7th January and 22nd September 2016, over a year before the referendum, discussing the formation of the last parliamentary legislature and the options for the independence process. They discussed the laws that the Parliament would have to pass, whether to hold a unilateral referendum or not and the calendar.
Tapped phones and public statements
The police also have provided the court with the results of phone taps in which Turull is directly or indirectly implicated and which place him as involved in decisions on issues like the publication of the decree convening the referendum or modifications to the referendum's web page.
The Civil Guard similarly quote some of his public statements. These include attacks on the Spanish government for spending money renting boats to house the police sent to Catalonia to avoid the referendum and statements that workers, civil servants or not, would participate in the referendum "voluntarily".
The lists
The strategic committee: Carles Puigdemont, Oriol Junqueras, Marta Rovira, Lluís Maria Corominas, Anna Gabriel, Mireia Boya, Jordi Sànchez, Agustí Alcoberro, Jordi Cuixart, Marcel Mauri, Neus Lloveras, Jordi Gaseni, Eudald Calvo, Carles Viver i Pi-Sunyer, Víctor Cullell i Comellas, Josep Maria Reniu, Neus Munté, Marta Pascal, Carme Forcadell, Artur Mas. This list contains two presidents of Catalonia (Puigdemont and Mas), politicians from the three pro-independence parties, civil servants and representatives of various pro-independence organisations.
The executive committee: Jordi Turull, Raül Romeva, Antoni Comín, Josep Rull, Dolors Bassa, Meritxell Borràs, Clara Ponsatí, Joaquim Forn, Lluís Puig, Carles Mundó, Santi Vila, Meritxell Serret, Joaquim Nin, Josep Maria Jové, Pere Aragonès, Lluís Guinó, Anna Simó, Joan Josep Nuet, Ramona Barrufet. This includes the ministers of the Catalan government, senior staff of some of their departments and some pro-independence deputies from the Parliament's Bureau. The Civil Guard also name 11 secretary generals of government departments who were aware of what the executive wanted to do and were the "closest to the ministers": Aleix Villatoro, Francesc Esteve, Maria Jesús Mier, Albert Serra, Cèsar Puig, Ferran Falcó, Maria Dolors Portús, Adrià Comella, Josep Ginesta, Xavier Gibert, David Mascort.