The Court of Auditors, ready to apply the amnesty

The Court of Auditors is about to apply the amnesty. The body met this Wednesday and, according to sources from this court, they are awaiting an appeal, which would be the last remaining step for it to become effective. When applied, it will affect 35 former high-ranking officials of the Generalitat prosecuted for expenses linked to the 1-O referendum and the foreign action of the Process. Among those affected are former presidents Carles Puigdemont and Artur Mas, former vice-president Oriol Junqueras, and former ministers Raül Romeva, Toni Comín, and Lluís Puig.

According to sources cited by Catalunya Ràdio, this decision should arrive in the coming weeks. In this way, an end will be put to the court's dilatory maneuvers. In July, the Court of Justice of the European Union endorsed the amnesty, but the Court of Auditors decided it would not apply it directly: it initiated a period of reflection on July 21, when it stated that before proceeding, it needed the opinion of the parties involved in the case to know if there were payments from the October 1st referendum that affected the financial interests of the EU.

Specifically, the lawsuit against 35 former Government officials for the 1-O and the foreign action of the Generalitat between 2011 and 2017 is for 3.4 million euros due to the economic cost of the Process. It is a third of the 9 million euros for which the accused had to post bail.

In all likelihood, the body will be forced to apply it and will not be able to postpone the decision any longer. ERC celebrated the "advance" this Thursday and demanded the "immediate" application of the rule to all cases, especially for the former members of the Government who are still pending amnesty by the Supreme Court. "The law must be fulfilled in its entirety and without further delays," the document states. In this case, there are nine people linked to ERC in addition to former vice-president Oriol Junqueras and former ministers Raül Romeva and Dolors Bassa. The party considered that the fact confirms the "solidity of the strategy" followed.

The Court of Auditors' decision runs parallel to the one the Constitutional Court must adopt, which is scheduled to begin deliberating on September 22nd regarding the appeals for protection (recursos d'empara) filed by leaders of the Procés. The Supreme Court, for its part, refuses to apply it to crimes of embezzlement, and the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) rejected the amnesty this September for the former Secretary of Vice Presidency Josep Maria Jové and the former Secretary of Finance Lluís Salvadó.

The other case that was resolved by the CJEU, the one involving the CDR members accused of terrorism, remains stalled. The National Court has not yet made a move despite the European endorsement to grant them amnesty. For the moment, they remain awaiting trial, with sentences that could reach 27 years in prison, and they are requesting that it be applied to them urgently, but they are still awaiting a response. The National Court claims that it has not yet received the ruling from the European court.