Barcelona's investigative court number 28 has opened proceedings for the trial of Josep Lluís Alay, the head of Carles Puigdemont's office, for his trip to New Caledonia in 2018, on the occasion of the Pacific Island territory's independence referendum, as well as over a visit to the Catalan political prisoners in Lledoners jail. According to the indictment prior to the trial, to which ElNacional.cat has had access, he is accused of misuse of public funds and abuse of official authority, and public prosecutors are demanding three years' prison and a 17-year ban on holding public office. The judge is investigating the origin of the 4,580 euros for the return trip to the Pacific and the 15.20 euros for the return motorway toll to Sant Joan de Vilatorrada.
In the court document, dated yesterday, November 9th, the judge does not impose any measures affecting Alay's liberty, but does ask him to pay bail of 4,732 euros in 24 hours.
At the end of September, the Barcelona Audience court rejected the appeal filed by Alay against the accusation of misuse of funds and abuse of office for having used public resources to finance the trip. The case dates back to 2020 when Barcelona public prosecutors opened a case against Alay for misuse of public money, following a trip to New Caledonia on the occasion of the self-determination referendum of November 4th, 2018, to which he was officially invited by the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front, as well as for the payment of a motorway toll to go to Lledoners prison, worth 11 euros.
The case
The head of exiled president Puigdemont's office will sit in the dock alone after the judge decided to close the indictment, over the same alleged actions, against the secretary general of the Catalan presidency department, Meritxell Masó, who was charged with authorizing the expenses now under investigation. Alay is currently being investigated in the framework of the Volhov case, a Civil Guard investigation into alleged involvement by Russia in funding the Catalan independence process. Public prosecutors have rejected the suspicions maintained by the Spanish judicial police force over a hypothetical Russian connection.
During the investigation, Alay has always argued that travel was part of his duties as head of the president's office. A "justified and official" trip, which was made in compliance with "all the economic and legal requirements established by the legal framework of the offices of former presidents of the Generalitat of Catalonia", as the office stated when the prosecutors' complaint was made public.
At the time when the accusation was made, Alay denounced that he was, once again, the object of political persecution, and he reiterated this on Tuesday in a tweet when it became public that he was being sent to trial. "Persecuted for political reasons. After twenty days of harassing me with regard to Russia, I will now be tried for representing president Puigdemont at the 2018 New Caledonia referendum,” he said.