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The Catalan Ombudsman raises to the Council of Europe the possible violation of rights of the decision of the Court of Auditors

The Catalan Ombudsman, in view of the decision of the rapporteur of the Court of Auditors (Tribunal de Comptes) refusing to accept the public guarantees established in a decision with the status of law to face the bail imposed on 34 former high-ranking officials of the Catalan Government for an amount of 5.4 million euros for alleged undue expenses:

First, the Catalan Ombudsman expresses his surprise that an administrative body does not respect a regulation with the status of law fully in force, such as a decree law already validated by the Parliament of Catalonia.

Second, the Catalan Ombudsman recalls the opinion of the Council of Statutory Guarantees (Consell de Garanties Estatutàries) in favour of the constitutionality of said guarantee.

Third, the Catalan Ombudsman recalls that according to Civil Procedural Act, to which the Court of Auditors refers, the guarantee must be of indefinite duration and payable on first request, issued by a credit institution or mutual guarantee company or by any other means that, in the opinion of the Court, guarantees the immediate availability, where appropriate, of the amount concerned. Such requirements are met by the Catalan Finance Institute's (Institut Català de Finances) guarantee.

Fifth, the Catalan Ombudsman will bring this situation to the attention of the Council of Europe, in particular the Parliamentary Assembly and the European Commissioner for Human Rights, so that they can also intervene to defend rights and the rule of law.

The Catalan Ombudsman recalls the Resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, according to which it must be ensured that the legal provisions for embezzlement of public funds are applied in such a way that liabilities are only enforceable when real quantified losses to the budget or to the State’s assets can be established.

Likewise, the Catalan Ombudsman recalls that its recent report on The granting of a partial pardon to the persons sentenced by Ruling 459/2019 of the Supreme Court has warned that the financial penalties imposed by The Court of Auditors imply that the persons under investigation are condemned to ruin, even before a sentence and despite the fact that many of the people now being prosecuted have already been tried at the highest jurisdictional level for the offence of embezzlement. For this reason, and in line with the recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Catalan Ombudsman believes that the Court of Auditors should suspend the processing of these cases.

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