Illa saves the 4.3 million guaranteed to the independentist leaders

The Generalitat will not have to execute the guarantees of 4.3 million granted to independentist leaders by the Court of Auditors. The ruling applies the amnesty law and taxpayers will not recover that money.

The Generalitat, led by Salvador Illa, keeps safe the 4.3 million that it guaranteed to independentist leaders, according to elmundo.es based on the ruling from the Court of Auditors. The decision, notified to the parties, validates the application of the amnesty law, meaning that those involved will not have to repay anything.

The guarantee had been granted by the Catalan Finance Institute during the tenure of Pere Aragonès, when he governed with ERC and Junts. Illa took it over and has maintained it until now, and the measure served to prevent the Court of Auditors from seizing the assets of the leaders of the procés.

According to the ruling, the Generalitat had guaranteed more than 400,000 euros each to Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras, in addition to another 23 leaders or officials. The largest amount corresponds to Albert Royo, with over 846,000 euros, followed by Francesc Homs with 655,000 euros, Artur Mas with 590,000 euros, and Raül Romeva with more than 450,000 euros.

“The non-use of funds from the European Union budget” for the claimed expenses, as certified by the Generalitat's Intervention.

The councillor of the Court of Auditors Elena Hernández, proposed by the PP, has had to apply the amnesty after two years of resistance, decisively pushed by the Generalitat itself. Her ruling dismisses the route proposed by the judge of the Supreme Court Pablo Llarena, who considered that misappropriation without European funds could be excluded from forgiveness if there was personal enrichment, because the law closes that door to the Court of Auditors.

For the citizen, the result is that the misappropriated public funds, according to the accusation from Sociedad Civil Catalana, will not be recovered. The ruling is final after its notification to the parties, meaning the matter is closed at this instance.