Nothing illegal, just suspicions. Mossos d'Esquadra police superintendent Antoni Rodríguez, who was in charge of the police investigation into the former Catalan interior minister Miquel Buch and police officer Lluís Escolà, has admitted, this Wednesday, in a Barcelona court that the hiring of Escolà as Buch's advisor was legal and that they found no agreement between Buch and exiled Catalan president Carles Puigdemont under which Escolà, on contract to the interior ministry, would act as bodyguard to the exiled leader in Waterloo, Belgium. The police investigation was focused on Escolà's tweets about his trips with Puigdemont, the confirmation of certain flights, and 14 reports he delivered as one of Buch's trusted subordinates between June 2018 and March 2019, which were discredited. Escolà was classified as having a permanent disability preventing him working as a Mossos officer in March 2021, due to serious spinal problems. In the case, the minister Buch is accused of creating the advisory position for the police officer Escolà as a cover enabling him to provide bodyguard services to the exile Catalan politician in Belgium.
In the first session of the trial, the investigator Antoni Rodríguez - to the questions of prosecutor Pedro Ariche - explained that Escolà was the head of the president's bodyguards until 2017, that he had a political affinity with him, that he was pro-independence, and that he "helped him escape" from Catalonia, a fact for which a disciplinary file was opened against him and because of which, in the end, he was removed from the bodyguard unit; and that when he was on leave and on vacation, he served as a guard for the president in exile.
However, at the hearing, the presiding judge insisted several times that the subject of the trial is whether the recruitment of Escolà was fraudulent, not his previous actions with Puigdemont.
To the questions from Buch's lawyer, Judit Gené, and Escolà's, Isabel Elbal, the Mossos investigator denied that he had found a tweet from Buch, or any document or recording that corroborated the prosecutor's thesis. The defence lawyers persisted in trying to dismantle Rodríguez's assertions. Even the head judge at this section of the Barcelona Audience, José Carlos Iglesias, stated: "This court will not base its judgment on the evaluations made by police witnesses."
Six years' jail sought for Buch
The prosecution's thesis is that the minister Buch, in coordination with Puigdemont, covered up the hiring of Escolà to act as president Puigdemont's bodyguard, arguing that of the 224 days he was an advisor, about 103 were away from the Spanish state, much of that time - it is asserted - at the side of Carles Puigdemont in Brussels. For this reason, the public prosecutor requests a six year prison sentence for Buch, along with a 15 year ban from public office, for a crime of misuse of public funds, and a further 12 year ban for the crime of abuse of authority, with Escolà also accused of the same crimes but at a lower level since he was the "cooperant" of Buch: thus for the police officer the prosecution calls for 4 years and 6 months in prison and a 13 year ban on holding public office for misuse of funds, plus a further 10 year ban for abuse of authority.
The defence lawyer for both men deny that they have committed any crime and ask for their acquittal. Judit Gené repeatedly asked the Mossos investigative head if he had compared Escolà's work with that of other positions of confidence, which - she specified - cannot be included in the normal work or reports of civil servants as it must be precise and technical. Rodríguez denied that. Gené also reprimanded him because the police report which criticised Escolà's work was itself full of spelling mistakes.
Lawyer Isabel Elbal asked him if the Belgian authorities had been asked about Escolà's bodyguard work, which he also denied. In addition, she inquired as to whether bodyguard work can be carried out without a weapon or protective elements. The investigator admitted that they did not investigate what Escolà was doing when he was abroad, but only collected his tweets.
Miquel Buch was accompanied to Barcelona's Palau de Justicia by his family, colleagues from Junts, such as the general secretary, Jordi Turull, and other politicians such as the former speaker of Parliament, Carme Forcadell. The trial will continue on Thursday.
In the main photo, former minister Miquel Buch, with his wife, on the way to court, this Wednesday. / Photo: Carlos Baglietto