The Spanish cabinet, headed by prime minister Mariano Rajoy, has this Friday dismissed the Catalan government's secretary of Communication and Public Attention, Antoni Molons. According to government sources, this is because "a legal process" is underway into his alleged involvement in last year's independence referendum. His firing was not mentioned, however, in the post-meeting press conference given by government spokesperson Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, because, according to the sources, it's not a first-line political role.
Molons was held and later released by the Civil Guard, Spain's militarised police, during an operation carried out this Thursday looking for evidence into the funding of the referendum campaign. The now former secretary, detained at his house, was later taken to the government palace to be present during the search of his office. He's accused of misuse of public funds and disobedience.
Molons was nominated to the role in January 2017 by then-minister of the Presidency, Neus Munté. He had initially kept his job following the intervention in Catalonia's government by Madrid authorities last year using article 155 of the Spanish Constitution.
The central executive has previously avoided talking in public about the firings, although at times they have mentioned the agreements they reached relating to article 155. In today's press conference, however, Catalonia didn't come up in either de Vigo's speech, nor the questions from journalists.