BarcelonaIt is legitimate to ask whether the trial of the Pujol family would have existed without the Process. And, after more than twelve years of judicial investigation and knowing what is already known about the Catalonia operation, it is reasonable to answer no. And perhaps the ex-president’s confession in July 2014 would not have happened, as he had hidden money abroad for thirty years. Mariano Rajoy’s government considered, erroneously, that to deactivate the Process it was necessary to deactivate Pujol.
Beyond the rumors that have always surrounded the Junior – the former president had been warned about certain behaviors of the first-born -, there was nothing judicially relevant about the family until well into 2012, when Convergència already took the independence flag. Another thing is the party’s irregular financing, which was demonstrated by the judgment in the Palau case.
Until then, had the State tolerated certain practices of the Pujol family? Or is it that before 2012 he had not been able to obtain evidence of irregular commissions? Or is there nothing and the money in Andorra is the result of grandfather Florenci’s legacy? This is what must be resolved in the trial at the National Court that starts this Monday in San Fernando de Henares.
The shadow of dear B
The session will begin with a key question: whether or not the former president can be judged by his state of health. And the lawyers consulted already assume that the court will exonerate him from the procedure due to his cognitive impairment. Pujol has always maintained that he wanted to defend himself before a court; for him it was part of restoring his figure, despite the possibility of a corruption conviction. However, the investigation has lasted too long and in his case – unlike the children – it seems that there will be no outcome and, therefore, no judicial truth either. The doubt will always remain. For some this can be a virtue because a conviction can be spared. For others the opposite because they believe he could have been acquitted and clear his name for good.
A decade after the outbreak of the case, there has been a progressive vindication of Pujol and his political recipe, taking into account the failure of the subsequent bets of the Statute and the Process. They have approached it from Junts to PSC leaders through Esquerra, since they all like, from time to time, climb, a little Thus, despite being condemned to live with the shadow of the B side, having transcended its political space is the true success of Jordi Pujol and Pujolism.
