1667469027 Prosecutors are asking for prison sentences of up to 21

Prosecutors are asking for prison sentences of up to 21 years for the conspiracy to “illegally finance” Artur Mas Convergència

Former manager of the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) Germà Gordó, in a file.Former manager of the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) Germà Gordó, in a file photo.Albert Garcia

Anti-corruption prosecutors have requested that the defendants in the 3% case, which spearheaded the plot of alleged illegal funding in the defunct CDC (Democratic Convergence of Catalonia), face prison sentences of up to 21 years and four months by Jordi Pujol and Artur Mas, former President of the Catalan Generalitat. The public ministry, which is also demanding a fine of three million euros against the PDeCAT as the heir to the disappeared nationalist party, details those penalties in the indictment it submitted in the open order in the National Court to set public tenders during, at least eight years to steer money into the training fund.

Prosecutor José Grinda, who signs the 210-page document, describes the conspiracy as a real “criminal organization” and accuses Andreu Viloca and Germà Gordó, former treasurer and former manager respectively of the political force he heads. of the allegedly corrupt network. For the first he demands 21 years and four months imprisonment; for the second, who was a man of the greatest trust of Artur Mas, a total of 18 years and 10 months. For two other former high-ranking party officials, however, she is demanding significantly lower penalties for their cooperation in the investigation: For the former chief financial officer Daniel Osàcar, anti-corruption is only demanding a sentence of one year and six months in prison, which can be replaced by positions in non-profit organizations; and for former business manager Francesc Xavier Sánchez, a year in prison and six months of community service.

In its brief, to which EL PAÍS had access, Anti-Corruption shows enormous urgency: “In the period from 2008 to 2015, high-level CDC officials, in collusion with officials and officials from various administrations and public institutions in Catalonia and with the various businessmen accused of having set up a structure to fund this political party illegally and covertly.” “Turning this money into income for Convergència without the taint of its illegal origin was a systematic action,” debunks the public accusation.

The supposedly illegal mechanism begins with the figure of Gordó, who was also Minister of Justice of the Govern de Mas. According to the prosecutor, the defendants acted under his “instruction” to control the tenders for public works and services drawn up by the various administrations that “were within the CDC’s sphere of influence”, from the Generalitat itself to the city councils , provincial councils and dependent organizations. In this way, they then influenced those responsible for the awards so that they would be given to business people in their field who injected money in the form of donations into the education.

Andreu Viloca, who is described as the “neuralgic center of the structure”, “was essentially responsible for the triangulation with authorities and businessmen and for the payments to the foundations,” emphasizes the letter from the Ministry of State. This calculates that a total of 218.7 million euros in tenders were “compromised”.

“They all undermined the rules of market competition and used the instructions of the administrations to obtain an economic and political advantage,” continues anti-corruption, in which Carles del Pozo, former coordinator of the Convergència Economic Area, is also involved; and Anna Dolors Benítez, former economic and financial leader of the party; for which he is demanding prison sentences of 14 and 10 years respectively. The list of indicted businessmen includes Francesc Xavier Tauler Ferré, José Miarnau, Josep Manuel Bassols, Ramón Anglada, Joan Albert Arqués Fontdevila and Jordi Sumarroca, among others.

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The prosecutor explains that the donations from business people – formalized by the CatDem and Forum Barcelona foundations – were not always accompanied by the award of specific works. Sometimes they made these contributions “in order to establish or maintain a good relationship with the party and thus be considered and considered eligible for future awards”: “That is, to improve expectations of being beneficiaries of such contracts in the privileged relationship to establish or maintain CDC and to consecrate their affiliation with the family that would enable them to claim influence.”

According to the prosecutor’s office, between 2008 and 2012 alone, the two foundations received more than 9.5 million euros in donations, 1.85 million of which corresponded to “illegal payments”. Anti-Corruption attributes to the 30 accused persons and 14 companies crimes of the criminal organization, fraud against public administration, corruption between individuals, influence trading, subterfuge, money laundering and bribery.

The trick of the PDeCAT

The anti-corruption letter comes more than a year after the criminal court hearing upheld the indictments against the CDC and PDeCAT. The court believed there was sufficient evidence against them and supported Judge José de la Mata’s order, who in July 2020 proposed trying both parties as legal entities and about thirty people for planning the alleged illegal funding network .

Already in the prosecution of the PDeCAT, the National Court emphasized their presumed responsibility, although this party was founded after the events under investigation. The Trial Chamber emphasized that there were “conclusive indications” that this formation was created in 2016 to “distance itself from the criminal responsibility that weighed on Convergència”: “PDeCAT retains an essential identity with the structure, operations and human and material resources with the extinct party, which however persists to receive subsidies pending receipt”. Prosecutor Grinda now falls into this line: “The creation of PDeCAT, far from corresponding to the birth of a new party, was the mere transformation or change in the appearance of the same reality with the aim of detaching from the responsibilities in which CDC could have emerged.”