Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is appealing the demand made on his assets by Spain's public auditing tribunal the Court of Accounts. His argument is based on immunity from prosecution as a member of the European Parliament, and if the Spanish body goes ahead anyway, he has asked for more time to be able to deposit the huge bonded amount, saying that it is "unreasonable to require the payment of 2,085,507.80 euros".
His defence team has filed an appeal against the bond calculated by the Court of Accounts as his personal liability for the alleged irregular use of public funds by the Catalan government - specifically, in its foreign relations spending during the six years before the 2017 independence referendum. The huge sum is supposed to be paid immediately as a bond and would be forfeited to the Spanish state if confirmed at the end of the process.
In an 11-page submission, the Puigdemont defence called for the required bond to be annulled, considering that the pro-independence leader "is recognized as having immunity as a member of the European Parliament" which applies before "any instance and jurisdiction, including the Court of Accounts". In this regard, the text criticized the action of the supervisory body and says that the statement made by the investigating delegate during the announcement of the liability sums - that this immunity only extends to criminal proceedings - is "contrary to law ".
Puigdemont's defence alleges that, for both the start and the continuation of the Spanish tribunal's procedure, "a prior concession" by the European Parliament of a request to waiver his immunity was required. “If the investigating delegate does not want to do this to avoid seeing her proceedings placed under some kind of scrutiny, that is another matter,” it added.
More time
As part of the appeal, Puigdemont's lawyer demanded that, in the event that his arguments were not upheld, the time allowed for the payment of the bond be extended and that "it be clarified how the required amount was reached, because, in the calculations made, if there is one thing that is not clear it is how the amounts are structured and how the part attributed to my client is established".
Thus, states the appeal, "it is totally unreasonable to require the payment of 2,085,507.80 euros by a person within such a short period." According to the provisional settlement report notified last week, to which Europa Press has had access, 34 former officials and public servants in the Catalan government face individual amounts for specific spending items that they approved when they were in their respective jobs. Although each is required "severally" to pay individual amounts for these specific concepts, all of them "jointly" must respond to the total of 5.4 million euros.
Proceedings are "unconstitutional"
In the appeal, the pro-independence leader argues that the action of the Court of Accounts "is, de facto, equivalent to the repeal of the powers of foreign action of the Catalan government", and therefore has labeled the proceedings as "unconstitutional".
The submission criticizes that the investigating officer of the supervisory body assured that "only the expenses that exceed" Catalonia's "own areas for foreign action" have been included, because this "does not match the reality of the calculation made".
According to the defence, the bond demanded by the investigating delegate "at first sight reflects a criminalization of all the activities that have been carried out by the different Catalan governments assuming a pro-independence objective in all of them". The text also reproaches the investigator for responding to the counterarguments made throughout the tribunal's session last week with "generic references to the responses given to all of the people identified as responsible."
"Nothing has been said about violations of fundamental rights beyond a simple reference to the procedure contained in the law governing the Court of Accounts' functioning and which, as we argue, cannot constitute a legal framework superior to the constitutional protection of these rights," said the defence argument.
Appeals deadline
Defence lawyers had until this Thursday to file appeals against the bond amounts imposed by the supervisory body. According to the law controlling the tribunal's operation, once these amounts have been paid and the appeals have been resolved, the case will be transferred to the representative of the public body affected - which in this case is the Catalan government - and to the other prosecutions so that within 20 days they can present their demands.
If they do not so, the duty is transferred to the public prosecutors - with another 20 day deadline - to formulate a claim if it deems it appropriate; in the event that it does not submit a demand, the accounting body will end the proceedings.
Once this investigation phase is completed, the proceedings will continue in the Court of Account's second prosecution department, under the judge Margarita Mariscal de Ghent, who was assigned to be responsible for this matter as it coincided with her period of duty.