Justice will take two months to verify the problems of access of the Pujol to their personal files

The AN asked to find out if the problems were due to a "system defect or a lack of computer skills"

MADRID, 9 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ministry of Justice has indicated to the judge of the National Court in charge of the investigation of the 'Pujol case' that it will take about two months to verify if the technical problems denounced by the clan of the former Catalan president to access the personal documentation in the case where the origin of the family patrimony is investigated are true.

The department led by Pilar Llop responded on March 1 to the request of the head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 5, Santiago Pedraz. The magistrate, in turn, complied with the resolution by which the Criminal Chamber ordered him to check if there were reasons that prevent the Pujol family from "accessing the Cloud digital platform."

Specifically, the magistrate issued an official letter to the New Technologies Unit of the Ministry of Justice in order for them to issue a technical-computer report on whether it is possible to access, download and view the elements that would affect the privacy of the Pujols. Justice, for its part, has warned that "the estimated response time will be two months."

The clan maintains that it has not been able to access the "material seized at the entrances and house searches and transferred to computer formats." The family considers it essential to be able to have access to them to ensure "their right to defense in this criminal proceeding" and so that "the right to privacy of the appellant or third parties is not violated."

In March 2022, the Chamber itself already agreed with the Pujol family and ordered the magistrate to expunge the documentation urged by the clan. However, the Pujols' defense complained to the judge later, alleging technical problems in accessing those papers and requesting that they be provided with the original hard drives or a computer copy of them, an end rejected by the instructor.

In the first instance, Judge Pedraz rejected the requested purge regarding those documents that had not been able to be identified as it was not proven that they affected "their right to privacy or that of third parties unrelated" to the case. Faced with this decision, the defense of Pujol Ferrusola went to the Criminal Chamber, which has partially agreed with him.

It was in an order from last February in which the magistrates of the Third Section partially upheld the appeal filed by Jordi Pujol Ferrusola. The eldest son of the former Catalan president had requested that he be granted "access and obtaining a copy through a simple dump on hard drives for the purpose of exercising his defense and the possibility of expunging those files" to which he had not been able to access.