The Supreme Court confirms Borràs' sentence and rejects applying amnesty

BarcelonaThe Supreme Court confirmed the sentence of 4 and a half years in prison, 13 years of disqualification and 36,000 euros of fine for Laura Borràs for her management at the head of the Institution of Catalan Letters (ILC). The high court unanimously overturns the decision the appeal filed by the defense of the former president of the Parliament against the ruling of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) and rejects the application of amnesty to him: he argues that the law is not applicable to corruption crimes that are not related to the Trial. The ruling, which is now final, is for the crimes of prevarication and falsification of documents.

The judges have entirely rejected the appeal of the former leader of Junts, which questioned the proportionality of the sentence and pointed out both the partial pardon proposed by the TSJC in its ruling and the dissenting opinion of one of the judges. "The proven facts are part of a conduct embedded in the corruption of a public official who places himself outside the law, disobeys it and violates the principles that inform the actions of the public administration," the Supreme Court responded.

Borràs also asked for amnesty to be applied to her because of her "clearly pro-independence" profile and because she led the ILC "within the framework of a government with a clearly pro-independence vocation." Arguments that the Supreme Court also rejects: "Neither the profile nor the development of a government action, in the administrative area that the appellant led, allow us to consider that the conduct for which she has been convicted falls within the context of the so-called Catalan pro-independence process." The court also rejects the violation of the right to the presumption of innocence.

The former president of the Parliament She was convicted of favoring businessman Isaías Herrero when she was the head of the Catalan Institution of Letters between 2013 and 2018, with contracts worth more than 300,000 euros. The TSJC considered it proven that she, as the institution's top contracting officer, decided "personally", "directly" and "without submitting" to public procurement rules that Herrero would be in charge of the web portal and other assignments that arose over time.

The path to pardon and the future of Junts

We'll have to see what happens now with the partial pardon that the court itself proposed in its ruling, something common but that would allow the prison sentence to be reduced to two years and prevent Borràs from going to prison. The TSJC was in favour of the clemency measure, considering that the law punishes the crimes of prevarication and falsification of documents excessively. While waiting for someone to ask for a pardon, the law that regulates the measure only grants the Spanish government the ability to grant them. The criterion of the sentencing court is simply advisory, so Borràs' fate will be in the hands of Pedro Sánchez's executive.

The fact that the sentence is final also could complicate the future of Borràs to Junts, where she was elected to chair the party's foundation. Beyond the existing internal balances, the Government warned in a report at the end of 2024 that those disqualified for crimes against property, the socio-economic order or falsehood cannot be patrons of a foundation, a condition sine qua non for presiding over the entity linked to Carles Puigdemont's party. The protectorate of foundations, the public administrative body dependent on the Generalitat that is in charge of supervising them, could have problems in the appointment.