What has been discovered so far in the trial against the Pujols?

MadridDoes the fortune of the Pujols in Andorra come from the famous inheritance of grandfather Florenci or from illegal commissions in exchange for political favors? This is the big question that is being tried to be clarified in a trial that already has 24 sessions and has brought 200 witnesses before the National Court so far. The interrogations, with recurring technical problems and repeated memory lapses, are focusing particularly on the operations carried out by Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, who faces 29 years in prison for five crimes. Many witnesses have accredited the eldest son's role as an intermediary: he offered "many business opportunities" to businessmen – it was all relationships between private individuals – and in return, he received compensation if the project was successful. However, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office believes that the money movements served to mask commissions that responded to a "network of clientelism" that his father had woven from the Generalitat. For the moment, this favoritism has not been proven during the trial.

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The money in Andorra is the core of the case. Josep Maria Pallerola, who was a bank manager for the family, has supported – with nuances – the defense's version: in the nineties, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola went to open an account and told him he was bringing the grandfather's inheritance, but he did not provide any "papers or documentation" to prove it. And in the following years, he made "many deposits" with money he carried in "bags or backpacks." The banker does not know where it came from, as they only checked that it did not come from drugs, weapons, or terrorism. The UDEF is also not clear, acknowledging that it was of "unknown origin." These are two statements that serve the prosecutor to doubt its legality and the defense to reiterate that it has not been proven that it came from corruption.

In the first days of the trial, the family's defense provided a book to demonstrate that the money belonged to Florenci Pujol, but the UDEF believes that the "dynamics" of the accounts "did not correspond to the management" of the inheritance nor to a "logical distribution." Furthermore, they did not find any document that spoke of the "existence of funds in Andorra." However, the eldest son's defense has pointed out that it was "normal" for "undeclared offshore funds" not to be listed in order to hide them from the Tax Agency.

The investigation focused on "non-existent" operations at Andbank linked to Jordi Pujol Ferrusola's accounts, which the judge considered "simulated" to "conceal the origin" of the money. A good number of witnesses with money in Andorra have paraded through the trial: documents show money movements between accounts of numerous individuals and the eldest son of the Pujols, but the witnesses stated that they neither knew nor had anything to do with it. Josep Maria Pallerola framed it within the compensation system that existed at that time – "there was not the control there is now" – to facilitate clients having money without having to cross the border. "No one complained to me," he defended. And the eldest son's lawyer, Cristóbal Martell, has repeatedly pointed out that clients did not complain when they discovered it and did not miss any money.

The role of intermediary

What did Jordi Pujol Ferrusola do? One witness summarized it as follows: "No papers are made, but it is a very important task. To pursue, insist, clarify, and help negotiate things. There are companies that live exclusively from this." "It is an essential and determining service," an entrepreneur emphasized. In one case, the eldest son was so "insistent" that he ended up being "annoying." Witnesses have agreed in saying that it was a "normal and habitual" procedure and that the amounts he charged – between 2% and 5% – were at market price.

However, the UDEF and the Prosecutor's Office do not believe it. The Spanish police investigator considers that there is an "absence of value-justifying activity" and "economic irrationality" in many operations. And the prosecutor clings to the witnesses who said they had not seen the eldest son in the operations in question. In fact, the prosecution constantly questions the existence of intermediations given that there are no invoices or documents to prove them. On the first day of the trial, for example, a friend of the eldest son admitted that he paid him 670,000 euros without any "formal contract" existing. But as the sessions progressed, despite the accusations' insistence and suspicions, this became normalized. An entrepreneur justified that they did not sign contracts because Jordi Pujol Ferrusola was a "trusted person."

Where are the Pujols' influences?

The alleged influences that the Pujol family exerted in exchange for commissions have also not been proven. In fact, neither the businessmen nor the siblings nor the father are accused of influence peddling, a crime for which it would be easier to convict them. A former high-ranking official of the Generalitat emphasized that he did not receive any "influence, suggestion, or coercion" to issue the environmental authorization for the Tivissa landfill. Another witness denied that Oriol Pujol had mediated for the Institut Català de Finances to grant a guarantee to a company: he managed it himself with the then-councillor Josep Huguet, who was from Esquerra and whom he knew from Manresa. This week, a witness indicated that Jorge Barrigón, who is one of the accused businessmen and was a friend of Josep Pujol, "boasted about getting the contracts he wanted."

On more than one occasion, interventions by administrations governed by the PSC have appeared. However, despite this, the UDEF investigator believes that the Pujols were involved: he alluded to the "transversality" that "has always been attributed" to Convergència i Unió and expressed his conviction that the eldest son had "de facto control of all institutions."

A project that appears recurrently is Azul de Cortés, a tourist complex in Mexico. The Prosecutor's Office believes that the eldest son "simulated investment operations," a narrative that witnesses have dismantled. "It was a totally real operation," said one witness. "It is absolutely impossible to simulate a project of this nature, it is immense and there is a huge amount of documentation," added another.

The role of the patriotic police

The National Court has also allowed the intervention of state sewers in the genesis of the case to be studied. Five officials from the patriotic police and two executives from Banca Privada d'Andorra (BPA) have testified. Joan Pau Miquel, who was its CEO, explained that Marcelino Martín Blas – head of internal affairs of the Spanish police – told him that Spain was "at war" with Catalan nationalism and asked him for the bank accounts of the families of Artur Mas, Oriol Junqueras, and Jordi Pujol. Higini Cierco, the owner of BPA, described a "bad horror movie" and "immense fear."

However, both denied that they leaked the information from the famous screenshot published by El Mundo. And Celestino Barroso, who was Interior attaché at the Spanish embassy in Andorra, revealed that the one who instructed him to contact BPA was Pedro Esteban, who was the chief commissioner of the Provincial Intelligence Brigade (BPI) of Catalonia and had asked him to warn them that Banco Madrid – which was BPA's subsidiary – had "problems." However, the patriotic police officers José Manuel Villarejo, Marcelino Martín Blas, and Bonifacio Díez Sevillano denied everything.