Judge Santiago Pedraz of Spain's National Audience has sent to trial the case of the former Catalan president, Jordi Pujol Soley, his seven children and eleven other people - including an ex in-law and business people - for alleged offences of illicit association, money laundering, continued crime of forgery of a commercial document, seven tax offences and crime of frustration of execution. The family of the most powerful president in Catalonia's recent history will sit in the dock of the Madrid court - although one of the prosecutions in the case, that of the Spanish state solicitors, has just announced that it will not now be calling for a jail term for president Pujol himself. The case against his wife, Marta Ferrusola, who suffers from Alzheimer's, was dropped in May after an appeal from the family.
Prosecutors call for sentences of 8 years and up
For the alleged crimes, the Spanish public prosecutors request a sentence of nine years in prison for the former Catalan president, while for his seven children, jail terms ranging from eight to 29 years in prison are called for.
Specifically, the public prosecutors demand 29 years in prison for the president's eldest son Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, 17 for his ex-wife Mercè Gironès, 14 for son Josep, and 8 for his other children: Pere, Oleguer, Oriol, Mireia and Marta Pujol Ferrusola. They also seek five years in prison for the 10 businessmen investigated: Francesc Robert Ribes, Bernardo Domínguez Cereceres, José Barrigón Lafita, Gustavo Buesa Ibáñez, Josep Mayola Comadira, Luis Delso Heras, Carlos Sumarroca Claverol, Josep Cornado Mateu, A.G.K. and Carles Vilarrubí Carrió.
Meanwhile, the state solicitors office - lawyers for the Spanish government - do not address any indictment at the patriarch, Jordi Pujol Soley, while for his eldest son they demand 25 years in prison and a deposit of 7.7 million euros for five tax offences. For son Josep Pujol Ferrusola they are asking for four and a half years in prison, and for Jordi Pujol Ferrusola's ex-wife, 17 years.
The highest sentences called for are for the first-born son of the Pujol Ferrusola family, Jordi, for whom the anticorruption prosecutors are seeking 29 years in prison for illegal association, money laundering, forgery, tax offences in five different years (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012) and frustrated execution. They also demand large fines.
In the judge's interlocutory which opens the trial, he requires Jordi Pujol Ferrusola to deposit 7.5 million euros within ten days, and his former spouse Mercè Gironès to hand over 400,000 euros - sums to cover possible civil liabilities that may arise in the trial due to the tax crimes imputed to them.
The judge confirmed that the defendants can remain at large and explains that there is no need to change this regime, which was applied in the investigative stage of the case, requiring them to let the authorities know of their addresses in Spain and the obligation to appear at court hearings when called.
The court document grants a period of one month for the defendants to file their defences and includes the indictments made by the three prosecutions in the case - the public prosecutors, specifically their specialist anticorruption section; the state solicitors; and the private prosecution conducted by the company Grand Tibidabo SA.
On June 16th, 2020, investigating judge De la Mata proposed to try the members of the Pujol Ferrusola family for having formed a criminal organization that, taking advantage of its privileged position in Catalan political, social and economic life for decades, accumulated disproportionate wealth directly related to economic sums received through corrupt activities.
In this process, investigation has also been made of business people who allegedly made massive payments to the family, which, as explained by De la Mata in his report, were disguised under corporate structures of greater or lesser complexity, and used different tax havens and contractual formulas. All these simulated contracts were reciprocated through the exercising of specific influences by the Pujol Ferrusola family in the awarding of contracts, changes in urban land zoning, granting of concessions, etc.