The Prosecutor's Office maintains its request for a prison sentence for the eldest son of the Pujols and the rest of the accused

San Fernando de HenaresAfter almost six months, the trial in the Pujol case is reaching –now for real– the final stretch, and if the court's optimistic forecasts are met, it will be ready for sentencing on Thursday. On Monday, the testimonies of the accused concluded, with the four businessmen who were left pending ten days ago. At half past eight in the morning, the lawyers were having a relaxed football chat while waiting to be allowed in. And, behind the scenes, journalists and lawyers were taking advantage of the breaks to make predictions about the prosecutor's verdict. Finally, Fernando Bermejo has opted to maintain the prison sentence requests that the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office initially requested: 29 years for Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, 17 years for Mercè Gironès –his ex-wife–, 14 years for Josep Pujol, 8 years for his brothers, and 5 years for the nine businessmen. "If there has been no common sense until now, why will there be now?", one of the lawyers wondered a while earlier. And another advised excluding the businessmen who have nothing to do with public works: "Between private individuals, it is much more difficult to maintain the accusation, and the Supreme Court's filter is not easy to overcome", he warned, already thinking about a possible appeal. But the prosecutor has taken the middle road.

The State Attorney's Office has made a single modification: it no longer accuses Andorran businessman Francesc Robert Ribes because it has accepted that the agreements it claimed were false are correct. For its part, the defense of the Pujol family has introduced a request for any hypothetical sentence –which is "improbable", according to Francesc Sánchez– to be reduced in accordance with the mitigating circumstance of undue delay, which applies when a case has been delayed

"extraordinarily" for reasons beyond the control of the accused. Likewise, the president of the court, José Ricardo de Prada, has announced that the chamber will soon issue an order to formally dismiss the case against the former president of the Generalitat, whom he has removed due to his inability to defend himself owing to his advanced age. Prosecutor Fernando Bermejo has withdrawn the prison sentence for him, but maintains the account of events unaltered, in which he maintains that Jordi Pujol i Soley wove a "clientelism network" to profit from the "excellent benefits" of public tenders.

"I never thought that friendship was a criminal offense"

"I had never thought that friendship was a criminal offense"

More awards with the PSC than with CiUHowever, the most tense moments were the questions from the State Attorney's Office, which interrogated him with some belligerence. "Look at the documentation carefully before making a statement that does not correspond to reality," Morales reproached Álvaro Bazán, who had downplayed Jordi Pujol Ferrusola's involvement in an operation in Gabon. At that moment, the businessman recalled a letter between a Gabonese minister and the firstborn. Previously, José Ignacio Ocio, also a State Attorney, had inaugurated the interrogation with a threatening tone: "If I had been present during the investigation, perhaps certain people from FCC [a Barcelona-based company] would be sitting here in your situation."

More awards with the PSC than with CiU

The businessmen have also wanted to address the assertion made by the Prosecutor's Office in the indictment that they had been awarded contracts with Catalan public administrations. Josep Cornadó, who was president of Copisa, explained that his main client was the Ministry of Development and stressed that from the Generalitat de Catalunya, which was the second, they received "many more" contracts with the PSC in Plaça Sant Jaume than with Convergència. "When we had more strength it was with the tripartit," he said. Luis Delso explained that Isolux received 881 million in public funds between 2000 and 2010. Of the total, only 92 million were from Jordi Pujol's government, 10%. "All the important awards were from the tripartit era," he highlighted.

Carles Sumarroca, who was CEO of EMTE, was one of the founders of Convergència and maintains a legal battle over Operation Catalonia, has also distanced himself. The UDEF found a post-it Carles Sumarroca, who was CEO of EMTE, was one of the founders of Convergència and maintains a