The Court of Auditors studies on Tuesday if it returns to ERC the 2.1 million bail for the expenses of the 'procés'

It denied a first ERC request for formal reasons but will now study the one made by Romeva

MADRID, 10 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Court of Auditors (TCu) will hold a hearing on July 12 to analyze whether the guarantee presented by the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) is sufficient to return to ERC the 2.1 million it deposited as a guarantee of the alleged accounting liability of former Government officials for the alleged diversion of funds for foreign action --the 'Catalan embassies' and the Diplocat-- within the framework of the 'proces'.

Sources from the TCu consulted by Europa Press have indicated that the reason for the hearing is that the former Minister Raul Romeva requested that the 2.1 million he deposited for his alleged accounting responsibility and those of the other people who respond jointly and severally be returned to the ERC. him, 19 other defendants. However, the Public Prosecutor's Office and Catalan Civil Society have opposed, so the hearing has been called.

Romeva's request came after the supervisory body rejected a previous request from ERC to return said deposit after learning that the Court of Justice of the TCu admitted the guarantees presented by the ICF.

Then, the TCu indicated to the political formation that before the reimbursement, the substitution of the deposit for the ICF guarantees should be approved, a procedure that should be initiated by any of the alleged accountants covered by the deposit, hence now it is Romeva who requests it. .

In the meantime, the accounting process continues. Thus, the Court of Auditors has dismissed this week the latest appeals filed against the demands of the Public Prosecutor's Office and Catalan Civil Society, which exercises the popular accusation in the procedure that is being followed against 35 people, mostly former Government officials, for the alleged diversion of public funds to pay for 1-O and the so-called 'Catalan embassies'.

The court has already rejected the appeal presented by the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and the former Minister of the Government Antoni Comín against the decree by which the lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor's Office was admitted, which claims 3.4 million euros -- jointly and severally with other defendants--in concept of accounting responsibility, a decision with which they were kept indicted.

The aforementioned sources indicate that, after this last refusal of the challenges formulated, the term has been opened for the parties to present their answers, after which a date will be set for the preliminary hearing for this accounting cause, which will serve to establish the facts. controversial and propose the admission of evidence.

At the request of the Prosecutor's Office, the Court of Auditors removed the former Ministers Joaquim Forn and Josep Rull, as well as 14 other former Government officials, from the list of people from whom the allegedly diverted funds are claimed.

The Public Ministry lowered the estimates on the figure allegedly deviated. Specifically, it went from the 9.5 million calculated by the TCu to 3.4 million euros. As he explained, the accounting responsibility of some of those present in the procedure decreased "considerably with respect to the amount claimed by the instructor" of the Court of Auditors and with respect to the demand of Catalan Civil Society because "the defendants and the amounts are divergent" .

Catalan Civil Society, for its part, filed a lawsuit against 11 former senior government officials, including former presidents Puigdemont and Artur Mas, and former vice president Oriol Junqueras, from whom it claims 5.3 million euros in accounting liability .

Initially, the TCu set the accounting responsibility for Catalonia's foreign action through the so-called 'Catalan embassies' and the Diplocat at 5.4 million euros, and estimated the expenses linked to the referendum on October 1 at 4.1 million 2017. As both actions were merged into a single procedure, the total amount reached 9.5 million euros.