The Generalitat takes a step forward in the Court of Auditors case
Finally, the Catalan Government has found a legal formula to cover the (totally exorbitant) bails imposed by the Court of Auditors on 34 current and former Generalitat officials who are held responsible for the Generalitat's foreign action between 2012 and 2017. The Catalan Minister of Economy, Jaume Giró, explained yesterday that the executive council had approved the creation of a risk fund endowed with €10m to which all public servants can apply, with the aim of covering the economic damages that may arise from the exercise of their powers. Initially this fund will depend on the Institut Català de Finances, but in the long run an external entity will be created that will be like a public insurance company that will cover everything that is left out of the private insurance that the Generalitat has contracted.
This fund will not provide cash to the plaintiffs, but instead will act as a guarantor to a bank, which will lend the affected the bail money. Giró made it very clear that in no case can we speak of embezzlement because, in the event that there is a final judgment and all legal instances are exhausted, state and international, the Generalitat will require the return of the money (with interest) to applicants. And what is the legal basis for creating this fund? Well, as explained by the councillor of the Presidency, Laura Vilagrà, the "principle of indemnity" contained in the Basic Statute of the Public Employee and in numerous court rulings.
In spite of the fact that it is evident that the fund has been created now to face the bonds of the Court of Auditors, other profiles will also be able to make use of it, for example the former Minister Santi Vila, who was asked to post a €216,000 bail by an Aragonese court and was forced to provide the deeds of his house as a guarantee. Those who will not be eligible, however, will be those convicted over the 2014 consultation on independence because there is already a final judgment.
The creation of this fund, in any case, must help to put an end to the climate of psychosis and judicial persecution that has taken hold of part of the Catalan civil service after seeing the degree of arbitrariness with which the Court of Auditors operates. It has to be clear, however, that in the long run it is almost impossible for this cause to be judicially endorsed because it supposes, in practice, the application of criteria of retroactive justice without the affected party being given a chance to defend themselves. One of the most flagrant cases is that of the former Auditor General Mireia Vidal, who is being asked to pay €3m for decisions that, in addition to being legal in the framework of foreign affairs, were not her responsibility, since she was a technician responsible for compliance with the budget and guarantor of the legality of spending, but not a politician. Her job was to check that the spending mechanisms were correct.
With its actions, the Court of Audit is dynamiting the functioning of public administration, applying ideological instead of legal criteria and creating a climate of fear and legal insecurity. And, in the face of this, the Generalitat does well to defend public servants.
