The Spanish state gazette has made it official, in the depths of the August summer holidays: the Catalan government's decree to create a fund to cover the enormous financial demands made by the Court of Accounts on former ministers and officials, has been given its legally-necessary publication in the Spanish BOE. This, almost three weeks after the Catalan Parliament passed the decree on 29th July, and with the Spanish auditing tribunal still awaiting a report from the state solicitors on the bond deposits, which 29 of those accused will make use of.
The Court of Accounts, the Spanish tribunal that audits public spending had demanded a total of 5.4 million euros from 34 Catalan officials, including presidents Artur Mas and Carles Puigdemont and vice president Oriol Junqueras. The tribunal, which is not a full court of law, asserts that they were responsible for dedicating the Catalan foreign policy budget to promoting the independence process, and has the power to confiscate sums equivalent to the total of the alleged irregular spending until it is proven (or rejected) that such spending took place.
On July 6th, the Catalan government agreed to create a fund to guarantee the bail amounts which the tribunal demanded from the officials, in order to prevent the seizure of their personal assets until a final ruling emerges, which could take years. Then, after all the major Spanish financial institutions that were approached refused to guarantee the fund, the public Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF), which depends on the government of the Generalitat, made itself responsible for covering the fund, a move which provoked a tense debate within the body.
State solicitors, still to respond
Finally, 29 of the former officials decided to make use of the government fund. However, the Court of Accounts' investigating delegate in the case, Esperanza García, expressed doubts about the "sufficiency and legality" of the new fund, and asked for a report from the state solicitors - the legal representatives of the Spanish government.
Next, the state solicitors' representative at the auditing tribunal, Rafael García Monteys, considered that he had a conflict of interest in the case, having already decided that the state attorneys would to withdraw from the case and not file a complaint, and accordingly at the start of August, the matter went before the state's solicitor general, Consuelo Castro.
Unanimous acceptance by Catalonia's Council of Guarantees
While the Court of Accounts has passed the question to the state solicitors, the decree continued its passage through the Catalan Parliament. On July 29th, the Council of Statutory Guarantees - tasked with ensuring the constitutional and legal viability of new legislation - endorsed the new Complementary Risk Fund, after opposition parties PSC, Cs and PP had requested a report. On the same day, the Catalan Parliament passed it with only 19 votes against: those of Vox, Cs and PP. The PSC and the Comuns abstained, and ERC, Junts and the CUP voted in favour.
On August 3rd, the Catalan government's own gazette published the validation of the decree approved by the Catalan Parliament, and two weeks later it was the Spanish gazette that sealed the administrative procedure of the Fund Decree. In the middle of August, the publication went unnoticed. Only David Portabella, delegate in Madrid of the Catalan newspaper El Punt Avui has reported the news.
Main image: Catalan economy minister, Jaume Giró, after the passing of the Decree of the Complementary Risk Fund in Parliament on July 29th / Sergi Alcàzar