The UDEF admits that Pujol's confession was the "direct detonator" of the case: "It was paralyzed"

MadridHow did the investigation into the Pujol family's accounts in Andorra begin? It is one of the big questions that the National Court is trying to answer this week. After the statements from the leadership of the patriotic police, who feigned ignorance about the origin of the banking information of the former President of the Generalitat's family, it was the turn of Álvaro Ibáñez, the investigator from the Central Economic and Fiscal Crimes Unit (UDEF) who signed all the reports in the investigation. About twenty documents and more than 2,000 pages. After the complaint filed by Vicky Álvarez, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola's ex-girlfriend, encouraged by José Manuel Villarejo in 2012, the first thing he did was to "corroborate with factual data" what she had reported. For example, whether the eldest son had been to the Eurobuilding Hotel or if he was a director of a British company. He analyzed notarial deeds, databases of the Tax Agency, and balance sheets. But he couldn't check everything: El Mundo published the screenshot of the Pujol family's accounts in Andorra – a "banking striptease" and the "original sin" of the case, according to the defense –, in an operation in which there are suspicions about the involvement of state security forces, that Jordi Pujol issued a statement confessing that he had money in Andorra. "Personal animosity"At the very beginning of his testimony, which lasted more than four hours with only the prosecutor's questions, Ibáñez acknowledged that he has a "personal animosity." He did not specify, but alluded to a case against him. At the end of the prosecutor's interrogation, he wanted to qualify it. He denied it was animosity towards the defendants and clarified that he was referring to their lawyers. At all times, Álvaro Ibáñez has maintained the thesis that supports the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office in its indictment regarding the fake invoices: The prosecutor's interrogation was smooth sailing. Fernando Bermejo gave him space to elaborate and expand on excessively generic questions. But there were two moments of tension with the defense. "Any problem?" Álvaro Ibáñez suddenly asked Oriol Rusca, Mercè Gironès's lawyer. He denied it, but the witness complained that he was making comments in a low voice.