• Catalonia. The 'staff' of Carles Puigdemont boasted: "Now we are going to have access to the Ministry, which is Illa"

The Court of Instruction number 1 of Barcelona has released the nine detainees last Wednesday in the operation of the Civil Guard against the so-called 'staff' of former president Carles Puigdemont who is accused of being behind the Tsunami Democràtic movement, of the financing of his stay in Brussels and of alleged irregularities in obtaining public awards.

The nine detainees are the only ones who appeared before the judge of the twenty arrested since most were released after passing through police stations.

Among the nine defendants were the three that the judge considers Puigdemont's 'staff' to direct the independence as well as the Tsunami protest movements: former ERC minister Xavier Vendrell, former CDC leader and president of Aigües de Catalunya, David Madí, and businessman Oriol Soler.

The president of the Catalan Proseleccions Esportives Platform, Xavier Vinyals, is also accused.

The nine detainees have availed themselves of their right not to testify and the Prosecutor's Office has not requested any precautionary measure for them.

Sources of the Public Ministry emphasize that they must examine the open case since the operation with the arrests, as well as the telephone taps, was designed between the judge and the Civil Guard.

Despite being released, the nine are still accused of the crimes of bribery, embezzlement of public funds, prevarication and public disorder, among others.

The case is a derivative of another initiated by the same court related to the diversion of public funds from the Diputación de Barcelona for international cooperation.

Here it is investigated whether the main defendants, Madí and Vendrell, used their contacts in Junts Per Catalunya and ERC to obtain contracts and awards from the Catalan public administration, some related to the Covid health crisis.

Others of those investigated also have relations with the Generalitat and received subsidies, such as the Platform for sports elections that he used for an event in Switzerland with Puigdemont.

Around thirty people have gathered at the gates of the City of Justice of Barcelona to protest the arrests and give support to the nine arrested, who had been in the Civil Guard facilities since Wednesday.

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Know more

  • Civil Guard

  • Barcelona

  • ERC

  • Junts per Catalunya

  • Corruption

  • Operation Taula

  • Catalonia

Courts A former PSC official admits to evade jail that he appropriated 32,800 euros of public money

Catalonia Civil Guard

The detainees boasted that Russia had offered 10,000 soldiers to Carles Puigdemont to turn Catalonia into a 'Switzerland'

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