“I don’t know how they funded the referendum, but not with public funds,” said Spain’s Treasury Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, in an interview early this week.
The Spanish government has been controlling the Catalan government’s spending since last September. Montoro said that his department, which had control over the 35 billion euros managed by the Catalan government, hadn’t detected any irregularity during that time. He affirmed that the system set up by the central government to check the Catalan administration finances had been working very efficiently. The Spanish minister suggested that the only way the Catalan government could have funded the referendum with “public funds” would have been if a civil servant had “counterfeit” bills.
Montoro affirmed that “the Catalan government could still technically be prosecuted for “misuse of public funds” because this crime isn’t limited to diverting funds: it also incorporates opening a public building for an illegal political event and similar illegal activities involving public funds.”
Spain has requested the extradition of President Puigdemont and his ministers for misuse of public funds. Spain’s Supreme Court says they misused €1.6 million based on Spain’s Civil Guard reports.
German, Scottish, and Belgian courts are currently considering a European Arrest warrant against President Puigdemont and his ministers Ponsatí, Puig, Comín, and Serret. According to German media, Spain is having problems demonstrating that Puigdemont misused public funds. Some of them believe that the German Judiciary Court will end up rejecting his extradition for lack of evidence.
On the other hand, the Scottish and Belgian justices have requested more information from Spain in order to determine if they will proceed to the extradition of the other ministers. However, their lawyers believe that they won’t be extradited to Spain due to the lack of evidence.
It now appears less likely that the European courts will return Catalan leaders to Spain, even on a lesser charge, after both the prime minister and treasury ministers have denied it publicly. The non-extradition of Puigdemont and his ministers to Spain would be a major defeat for the Spanish government and would legitimate pro-independence parties to follow their roadmap in order to implement the Catalan Republic.
Josep Goded 