The lawyer Joan Piqué Vidal, known for having led the defense of Jordi Pujol in the Banca Catalana case and having been convicted later for corruption, died in Castelldefels on October 7th at the age of 93. His life is the story of a fall. From being one of the most influential lawyers in Catalonia in the 90s, a member of what was then known as golden robes, he went on to enter prison following the Estivill case and to fall into absolute discredit, the example of what someone who believes in the functioning of the law must never do.

Florenci Pujol i Brugat was an interesting character. He made most of his considerable fortune by trafficking in the scarcest commodity in an autarkic dictatorship: the foreign currency that allowed the Catalan textile industry to import and export. Now, 45 years after his death in 1980, he is at the center of a trial against his son Jordi and seven of his grandchildren. It is curious that Pau Ferrer, the lawyer for four of the former president's children (Marta, Mireia, Pere, and Oleguer), presented the book as evidence for the defense in the first session of the trial. Banca Catalana. More than a bank, more than a crisisThat book was written by Siscu Baiges, Jaume Reixach, and myself after a long and unpleasant investigation: Jordi Pujol's bankrupt bank was a taboo subject, and no one wanted to speak openly about it. Pressure and threats abounded, both before and after publication. The book marked the lives of the three of us in one way or another.