The Court of Auditors begins to communicate the millions of euros in bail for the Generalitat's external action

BarcelonaThe Court of Auditors has begun to communicate the millionaire bails to political leaders and senior executives who were responsible for the external action of the Generalitat between 2011 and 2017. Two weeks ago, for Sant Jordi, the court already summoned ex presidents Artur Mas and Carles Puigdemont; the former vice president Oriol Junqueras; the ex MP Raül Romeva, and about thirty other officials and former officials of the Government for alleged irregularities. The reasons: conferences, trips and expenses in the delegations of Catalonia in other countries that the judge considers that they may have exceeded the powers of the Generalitat. Above all, the magnifying glass is fixed on the Diplocat, which already took the main stage in the Catalan independence bid trial. In fact, the former secretary general of Diplocat has been the first of those involved in knowing the bail he faces: Albert Royo reported yesterday that the Court of Auditors asks him for 4.5 million euros. Royo, in a message on his Twitter account, has asked for help from the Caixa de Solidaritat.

The amounts that Puigdemont, Junqueras and Romeva will have to pay are not yet known, but they do know that they are summoned on 29 June at half past nine in the morning in Madrid, and the summons can be extended to the 30th if necessary. In their cases, the case opened against foreign action will join the referendum of 1-O, for which they ask the MPs for about 4 million euros. The bonds have not been returned and, despite the fact that most of them have been paid thanks to the Caixa de Solidaritat, many have seized assets. If now they are asked to pay 15 million more and cannot reach this figure, the Court could seize all their present and future assets. In addition, the Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation to clarify whether criminal offences may have been committed in the Govern's external action.

416,8 million euros

The Foreign Affairs department was one of the most inspected by Moncloa while 155 was in force. This served to compile invoices that gave rise in March 2019 to a report of more than 500 pages that reviewed 416.8 million euros spent by Foreign Affairs. The court's thesis is that part of the resources allocated to the promotion of the Generalitat abroad in recent years can be linked to the promotion of the pro-independence cause and, therefore, accounting responsibility can be attributed to the former members of the executive because they do not consider it legal. Among the expenses detailed by the Court of Auditors and which the body considers irregular are, for example, 479,633 euros spent on a total of 45 trips abroad by public officials. According to the report, these trips served to "promote the Catalan independence bid" and, therefore, in the Court's opinion, are irregular.