The Justice reactivates the investigation of Andorra against Mariano Rajoy for his involvement in the ‘Operation Catalunya’

This is a case that began last June due to several lawsuits filed years before, among others, by the former maximum shareholder of the Private Bank of Andorra, Higini Cierco. The judge decided to charge, among others, Rajoy, former ministers Cristóbal Montoro and Jorge Fernández Díaz and the leadership of the Ministry of the Interior, among other people, for crimes of coercion and false documents.

With this decision, says the TSJM, “the final ruling” of the process against Mariano Rajoy and former members of his cabinet or the fund of their resources on the processing of the rogatory commission is not prejudged. But the contentious-administrative judges do explain that Mariano Rajoy relies on “generic and inconsistent invocations” to request the suspension of the processing of the case in Spain, alleging that he had received different treatment from other defendants by the magistrate of Andorra . They reject his allegations explaining to Rajoy that “nothing has been shown with evidence or indications” about this different treatment that he alleges.

The judge sent the rogatory commission to the Madrid courts so that Rajoy and the rest of the defendants could be located and notified of the opening of the case. Initially, the former Prime Minister managed to get the contentious judges of the Superior Court of Madrid to paralyze the management of this rogatory commission in a very precautionary manner, but now, already in the precautionary measures phase and after obtaining the opinion of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the State Attorney refuses to prolong the suspension in a precautionary manner.

Now it will be the Ministry of Justice and the courts of the Plaza de Castilla in the capital that will once again start the processing of a rogatory commission that, among other things, implies the summons of the accused to formally notify them of the existence of the cause. against them, without ruling out their court summons to testify if the instructor so decides.

Illegal operations to curb independence

The Justice of Andorra investigates whether the executive of Mariano Rajoy and the leadership of his then Ministry of the Interior, led by Jorge Fernández Díaz, promoted an irregular investigation of the funds of the Pujol family to create judicial fronts for the Catalan independence movement in the midst of a train crash during the procés that culminated in 2017. Initially, the complaints were directed against members of the so-called ‘patriotic police’ – among them the former operational deputy director, Eugenio Pino – but it was later extended to members of the Government and Interior commanders.

The complaint affirms that the central executive ordered the sending of members of the National Police to put pressure on directors of the Private Bank of Andorra and obtain information on Catalan politicians such as Artur Mas and Oriol Junqueras, in addition to former president Pujol. According to the plaintiffs, the Government extorted executives of the bank by forcing its closure and its Spanish subsidiary, the bankrupt Banco de Madrid, if they did not accede to these requests for information.

In the case of Jordi Pujol and his family, the case is ready for trial while waiting for the National High Court to set a date for the start of the process. A process in which the Prosecutor’s Office has come to request nine years in prison for him and sentences of 29 years in prison for his eldest son. His wife, Marta Ferrusola, has been left out of the trial due to her health condition.