Spanish prosecutors are demanding a nine-year jail sentence for the former president of Catalonia, Jordi Pujol, and up to 29 years for his eldest son, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, for offences of criminal organization, illicit association, money laundering, tax fraud and document falsification in relation to the management of his assets. It brings closer the corruption trial of the family of Jordi Pujol, the politician who dominated Catalan politics for decades, and was president from 1980 to 2003.
Specialised anti-corruption prosecutors have today presented before a criminal chamber of Spain's National Audience the provisional indictment of the so-called Pujol case, which has not been made public, under which accusations are made against the members of the Pujol Ferrusola family - that is, the historic Catalan politician, his wife Marta Ferrusola, and all of their seven children. The prosecution accuses them of acting together to hide, "at least since 1991, a huge amount of money in Andorra, the product of favouring certain business people in the awarding of different public tenders of the Catalan public administration."
The indictment asserts that "Jordi Pujol Soley agreed with his spouse, Marta Ferrusola, that the funds from the illicit activity carried out during the previous years would be distributed in accounts opened in her name and in those of her children, the also-accused Jordi, Josep, Marta, Pere, Oriol, Mireia and Oleguer Pujol Ferrusola, in the bank Banca Reig, which would later merge with Banco Agrícola giving rise to the Andbank". The document also states that it was the eldest son, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, who "managed the funds and organised their distribution among the other members of the family".
The indictment leaves out Marta Ferrusola, the matriarch, as today the National Audience has closed her case due to the dementia from which she suffers, and for which her defence lawyer filed an appeal, requesting the closure of the case.
Prison terms demanded
Prosecutors are asking for nine years in prison for the former president of the Generalitat of Catalonia for crimes of illicit association and money laundering, and between 8 and 29 for his seven children and for the wife of his eldest son, Mercè Gironès. Specifically, the prison terms demanded are: 29 years in prison for Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, 17 for Mercè Gironès, 14 for Josep, and 8 for Pere, Oleguer, Oriol, Mireia and Marta. The indictment also calls for five years in prison for 10 businessmen investigated.
The highest sentence demanded is for the eldest son of the Pujol Ferrusola, Jordi, for whom the prosecutors seek a 29-year prison term for illegal association, money laundering, falsification of documents, tax fraud in five separate years (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012) and financial fraud offences. The indictment also demands fines for the eldest son of the Pujol family.
What prosecutors say the Pujols did
According to the prosecutors, the defendant Jordi Pujol Soley "took advantage of his political position to weave a network of clientelism according to which Pujol Soley himself and certain businesspeople related to the party he led, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC), distributed abundant profits from public tenders, the resolution of which depended on the different Catalan administrations under the control of CDC".
The court document reports that "the illegally-obtained assets were hidden from the tax authorities and later retrieved through systematic money laundering operations in which members of the Pujol family took part in a coordinated manner over many years. Some, Pujol Soley and his spouse, directed the concealment and retrieval operations; others, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, Mercè Gironès Riera and Josep Pujol Ferrusol, managed the benefits from the activity described; others still, finally, benefited directly and consciously from the result of the previously-mentioned conducts, helping in their concealment".
The public prosecutor describes the modus operandi of the Pujol family: the creation of numerous companies based in tax havens; accounts opened in the name of third parties; and multiple transfers and payments in cash. This allowed the Pujol Ferrusola family, according to the prosecution, to "distribute the illicit funds and dispose of them through operation in their accounts in Andorra, as detailed in the indictment filed by the anti-corruption prosecutor's office."
The members of the Pujol family are listed as perpetrators of the crimes of illicit association, money laundering, falsification of a commercial document, and tax and fraud offences. The business people involved in the plot are accused of essential cooperation in money laundering through the falsification of commercial documents.