It is hard to believe that someone like Carles Puigdemont, who in addition to being a former president of the Generalitat is a journalist, misspells his second surname: that Casamajó becomes Casamajé. It is even more difficult to believe that he misspelled his second surname in a letter addressed to Cardinal Angelo Becciu – then a substitute for the Vatican Secretary of State, number three of the Holy See – and stamped with the emblem of the Generalitat, in which he supposedly thanks the "predisposition" to being received and in which he names who will be his mediators: two people from his environment, with equally misspelled surnames. In total, the letter contains a dozen spelling or typographical errors.
The letter is dated November 2, 2017 and supposedly commissions two close people, Francesc de Dalmases and Manuel Manonelles, to represent him in a meeting at the Vatican in which he intended to expose how the relationship between the governments of Catalonia was. and Spain in full effervescence of the procés. Just one month had passed since the 1-O referendum and on October 30 Puigdemont had just fled to Belgium. Was it time to begin mediation with the Vatican?
The letter has appeared in the trial in Rome against Becciu for alleged corruption; Along with nine other defendants, he is accused of a ruinous sale (and subsequent fraud) of a luxury building in London with Vatican funds. Puigdemont was mentioned in the trial by Cecilia Marogna, an alleged intelligence adviser who alleges having spent funds from the Catholic central to rescue kidnapped missionaries in Africa, although she is accused of having diverted them to the purchase of luxury items.
Marogna explained to this newspaper that it was Piergiorgio Bassi, advisor on diplomatic and intelligence matters at the PGB Group firm, who proposed a "video call between Puigdemont and Becciu", and that he was the one who sent him the letter. “When I received it –adds Marogna– I noticed that the signature seemed inserted above and not superimposed on the letter. I printed it to better verify the appearance and composition and confirmed the doubts I had about its veracity.”
From Carles Puigdemont's environment, it is categorically denied that he is the author of that text. "He is not the author, nor has he done or requested any kind of mediation with Mr. Becciu, nor has he commissioned anything similar," explains a spokeswoman for the former president. Francesc de Dalmases said he had "nothing to say" about his name appearing in the letter. Manonelles dodged this newspaper in his attempt to obtain a version of the events.
In various email contacts with La Vanguardia, Bassi details that he tried to "facilitate a meeting with the Vatican Secretary of State, but we did not find the right conditions on both sides." His intention was to "find a peaceful solution." "The Catholic Church in Spain is deeply rooted and the Vatican could have mediated in the situation and found an advantageous balance for all", he believes.
Bassi reveals that he was acting on the advice of his Russian and American partners, whom he refuses to identify. "Our Russian partners, like the Americans, had direct relations with the region in question and asked us for an opinion on the situation to assess how to involve the Vatican as a peace mediator." “The Americans and the Russians – he abounds – carefully analyzed the situation, which was becoming more and more magmatic day after day, just as they do in many other places in the world. At that time the centers for preliminary strategies in both America and Russia had similar analyzes and interests in restoring balance and order.
Bassi refuses to reveal the identity of such associates, although he describes them as "Russian Foreign Ministry officials and diplomats" and as "American diplomats," and claims he does not remember who sent him the letter, which he forwarded to the Vatican. "Honestly, I don't remember, a few years have passed and the issue was managed for a short time." With Puigdemont, he "personally had no relationship."
Although he has nothing to do with the matter, Marogna mentions Puigdemont in a 22-page memorial delivered to the judge, in which he justifies his activities in the service of Cardinal Becciu. "I wanted to understand if Bassi's initiative was truly authorized at the request of Puigdemont through the people mentioned in the email, or not, even something hidden to be used for other purposes," she adds.
The exchange of emails between Bassi and Marogna, to which this newspaper also had access, adds a third person who supposedly could have been a mediator with Becciu. Bassi mentions in addition to Manonelles and Dalmases Jordi Sardà; the man who in 2012 tricked the Kyiv authorities by appearing as a representative of Gas Natural and agreeing with the Ukrainian government to install a liquefied gas plant; the gas company sued him. Years later, in 2018, she brought to Barcelona the Russian citizen Sergéi Motin, one of the allies of the procés in his intention to create a Catalan cryptocurrency. But he took him to the city to be treated for lung cancer. After a month at the Diagonal clinic, before which Sardà acted as translator and representative of Motin, he ran away without paying. He left a hole of 19,800 euros. Sardà did not answer the call from this newspaper either.
