There's some homework due after the holidays. On its return from the Easter break, Spain's public auditing tribunal, the Court of Accounts, will have to return a sum of 2.9 million euros to the Catalan independence movement's Solidarity Fund, which was paid as a bail guarantee over the case of the 1st October referendum, for which the tribunal had demanded 4.1 million euros (plus interest). It will also have to return the 2 million euros that the pro-independence party ERC deposited over a second case, that of the promotion of the Catalan independence cause abroad, for which the Spanish body set a figure of 5.4 million euros to be paid last October, which was covered through both money and assets. This obligatory return of funds is the result of the detailed text lodged by the prosecution, and made public yesterday, in which it reduces the amount claimed for the organization of the Catalan independence referendum to 1.2 million euros (down by 2.9 million euros) and the spending abroad to 2.2 million (3.2 million less). The court is governed by the accusatory principle, and as the public prosecutors' much-reduced assessment of the amount owing is still greater than that calculated by the private prosecution carried out by the Societat Civil Catalana, the remaining cash will have to be returned. In addition, in the case of the foreign affairs spending, the freeze placed on some private assets may be lifted, as the tribunal also recently altered another of the much-criticised decisions made earlier with regard to the case, thus permitting the bail to be guaranteed by the Catalan government's risk fund, through the Institute of Catalan Finance (ICF) and managed by the economy ministry.
The Solidarity Fund, created and sustained by contributions from the Catalan public to resist the Spanish institutions' economic targetting of the Catalan independence movement, has calculated that in 2021 it gave financial assistance to a further 276 people, comprising 180,801 euros in legal defence, 20,000 euros in bail, 12,348 euros in fines and 84,960 euros in civil liability. Since its creation, the fund has helped more than 800 people. One of its last actions in 2021 was the contribution of an additional 190,801 euros to a third Court of Accounts case, that on the unofficial independence consultation of 9th November, 2014, to cover all that the Spanish auditing tribunal claimed and allow the return of seized private assets of ex-president Artur Mas, minister Francesc Homs, and others. Now, they will have to reclaim the return of the funds they provided as collateral for the 1st October vote.
Amounts paid in
The Spanish Supreme Court convicted several of the Catalan pro-independence political leaders of misuse of public funds over the referendum, and at that time, in October 2019, passed the duty of recovering the money spent to the Court of Accounts, which was then to return it to the Catalan government - although the pro-independence governments of the Generalitat have, logically, never demanded it. The new Court of Accounts prosecution claim notes that the Supreme Court's criminal chamber had taken possession of 2,135,948 euros in civil liability bail, most of it from donations. And it adds that on February 21st, 2020, the Solidarity Fund paid an additional 2,010,327 euros, to reach the 4.1 million initially claimed. But now, with the prosecution's new calculation, it has 2.9 million euros too much.
As for the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), sources close to the party assert that they will now demand that the Court of Accounts return the 2 million euros they deposited to cover the Catalan government's responsibility for foreign spending in 2016 and 2017, which includes the demands made for payments by president Carles Puigdemont, vice president Oriol Junqueras and most of the defendants at the time. "To avoid the personal and family involvement of dozens of people and in coordination with other affected organizations, ERC, with great organizational and membership effort, was able to advance part of the amount required by the court", the party said last October, asserting: "This is an unprecedented financial persecution of the independence movement.” Now, the Spanish auditing tribunal and its prosecutors have themselves backed away from the original demands they made.
Duplicated sum
On the other hand, the Solidarity Fund is still waiting to recover the 4 million euros it deposited to cover the civil liability of some thirty defendants accused of taking part in the organization of the 1st October referendum, in an investigation carrried out by Court number 13 of Barcelona, which corresponds to the same items as the Court of Accounts is claiming. It is one further recalculation and repayment to be done in addition to the many corrections to be carried out in response to the prosecutors' new assessments. The Court of Accounts has a lot of holiday homework ahead.