Lluís Prenafeta, Jordi Pujol's former right-hand man, dies

BarcelonaLluís Prenafeta passed away this Tuesday at the age of 86, according to ACN. Born in Ivars d'Urgell in 1939, Prenafeta served for ten years (between 1980 and 1990) as Secretary General of the Presidency of the Generalitat, alongside former President Jordi Pujol, whose right-hand man he was. A driving force behind TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio, Prenafeta was also known for promoting the Generalitat abroad during his time in the Catalan government. A leader of CDC, a party he had been a member of since the 1970s, Prenafeta left active politics when he left the Palau de la Generalitat and went on to work in the private sector. In 2001, he created the Fundación Catalunya Oberta (Catalunya Oberta Foundation), a think tank of liberal ideology that dissolved in 2017. Jordi Pujol's former right-hand man was also implicated in corruption in the Pretoria case.

The National Court convicted him in 2018 for this case of urban planning corruption in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Badalona, and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, a case in which the former Minister of Economy in Pujol's governments, Macià Alavedra, and the former mayor were also implicated. Prenafeta admitted to a good part of the facts – the collection of commissions from businessmen in exchange for the awarding of public works contracts between 2002 and 2009 – and agreed with the Prosecutor's Office to a sentence of almost two years in prison for influence peddling and money laundering – he avoided going to prison. In one of his last interviews, on Catalunya Ràdio almost two years ago, Prenafeta explained why he had admitted the facts: "I wanted to sign the agreement and they told me to say that. That's how justice works."

In the same interview, he defended Jordi Pujol's work, but was critical of his eldest son, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola: "I would put both hands in the fire for President Pujol. For the eldest son, I would only put one finger," he stated. In fact, Prenafeta stated that he believed Jordi Pujol had "made a mistake" in confessing to the existence of grandfather Florenci's death on July 25, 2014. In this sense, he asserted that the money was not for him, but for his wife and children. Indeed, the former high-ranking official of the Generalitat also testified as a witness before the National Court in the investigation against the Pujol family. In this regard, he asserted that he was unaware of the alleged irregular commission of 51,000 euros that was paid in 1991 to the eldest son of the former president of the Generalitat, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola.