The "reverend priest" appears in the Pujol trial

Madrid"Reverend Father, I am the Mother Superior of the congregation. I would like you to transfer two missals from my library to the parish chaplain's library." The letter, written in code by Marta Ferrusola, went viral even before things started going viral. The wife of former president Jordi Pujol was giving orders to transfer money between the family's accounts in Andorra. And this Wednesday, it was the turn of "Reverend Father" to testify. Josep Maria Pallerola, who was the Pujols' first manager in Andorra, admitted before the court that he was nicknamed "Father" because he had "a priest's face." It was prosecutor Fernando Bermejo who brought the matter to light. famous handwritten note that Ferrusola sent to Banca Reig. "I remember they called me 'Father' somewhat jokingly," Pallerola confessed.

Pallerola recalled his first encounter with Jordi Pujol Ferrusola and corroborated the defense's theory that the family of the former president of the Generalitat originated their fortune in the Pyrenean country from his grandfather Florenci's inheritance: "He came and brought me a sum of cash. When I asked him what it was, he told me it was his grandfather's inheritance, to be divided between his mother and siblings," he recounted. It was over one hundred million pesetas, and he believes the eldest son carried it "in a bag."

The National Court has closed the circle of investigations into the role of the patriotic police in the genesis of the Pujol case. This Wednesday, the last two witnesses testified, and although the contradictions that have existed until now persisted, they provided new information and helped to solidify—to some extent—the reconstruction of events. The most significant revelation was that Celestino Barroso, who was the Interior Ministry attaché at the Spanish embassy in Andorra, disclosed who instructed him to contact Banca Privada de Andorra (BPA). He spoke first with the bank's owner, Higini Cierco, and then with the CEO at the time, Joan Pau Miquel, whom he urged to meet in Madrid with a certain Félix—who was Marcelino Martín Blas—who He demanded bank information from her. from the families of Artur Mas, Oriol Junqueras, and Jordi Pujol. Their mission was to tell BPA executives that Banco Madrid—the subsidiary—"was having problems" and that Félix could "help them solve them." However, Celestino Barroso has denied that they coerced anyone to obtain information from BPA: "I have never threatened anyone, not at all," he emphasized. The person who tasked him with speaking to them was Pedro Esteban, who was the chief commissioner of the Provincial Information Brigade (BPI) of Catalonia.

Who is Pedro Esteban? He was the architectfrom the investigation that was leaked to the newspaperThe reason with the ID photos of the 33 judges from Catalonia who signed a manifesto in favor of the independence referendum. The recording of a March 2014 meeting in which Pedro Esteban participated, along with other leading figures of the patriotic policeIt was confirmed that the state's dirty tricks department was behind it: Pedro Esteban was worried that it would come out that they had leaked the images, and Eugenio Pino—who was the deputy operational director of the Spanish police—reassured him, saying that he could invoke the Official Secrets Act. A month ago, the Madrid Provincial CourtHe asked to reopen the caseRegarding the leak of ID card photos, in 2022 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned Spain after concluding that the dissemination of the images violated the judges' right to privacy.

Apart from Barroso, Higini Cierco also testified this Wednesday, endorsing what Joan Pau Miquel explained yesterday and discrediting Celestino Barroso. When questioned by the prosecutor, he justified why they did not report the coercion and pressure in 2014.patriotic police They did so in 2016: "The fear was immense, it was an extraordinary situation," he argued. He recalled that Barroso told him on the phone that he needed to speak with him "urgently" and recounted the sequence of events: Barroso went to see him at his office, he met him outside, they talked at the door, and he urged him to contact Joan Pau Miquel directly. Immediately afterward, while the Interior Ministry attaché in Andorra was driving to meet with him, Higini Cierco called Joan Pau Miquel to warn him that he had had a "Dantesque" conversation, one that was like something out of a "bad horror movie." However, today he wanted to make it clear that BPA "was not the one that provided the information" about the Pujol family that was published days later. The World.