The opening of an oral trial to the republican deputies Josep Maria Jové and Lluís Salvadó, considered architects of the 1-O, paves the way for a new clash, not only between independence and the judicial authorities, but between the sovereignist ranks. ERC and Junts have ignited the fuse. Today, the deputy general secretary of Esquerra, Marta Vilalta, has rejected that Jové and Salvadó, accused among others of embezzlement and prevarication, can be suspended as deputies of the Parliament and has suggested that the leader of JxCat, Laura Borràs, "has lost the cabeza” if he considers that there was embezzlement in the 1-O.
Borràs was applied to article 25.4 of the regulations of the Catalan Chamber a few weeks ago, after having been prosecuted by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) for prevarication - a crime framed in corruption - and documentary falsification. So she was suspended from her duties as president of the Parliament for, allegedly, having divided and awarded contracts so that a friend of hers would benefit when she directed the Institut de les Lletres Catalanes. Borràs already defended on Friday that this precept should now be applied automatically to the two Republican deputies, although she specified that Junts would vote against the suspension of functions of both.
ERC repudiates the prerogative. Vilalta has affirmed that the case of the Republican deputies – together with them, the Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga, is also prosecuted by the TSJC, but only for disobedience – is different, because she has denied that they profited or benefited third parties. Moreover, the Esquerra leader affirms that there was no embezzlement and that "it is evident" that Jové and Salvadó are "politically retaliated." "If someone believes that 1-O is corruption and Junts now defends that 1-O is corruption, they will have to explain it very well", she has warned.
In any case, it will be the Board of Parliament that, if necessary, decide. It is almost certain that the suspension of the two deputies will not occur, since of the six members of this governing body, two are from ERC (Alba Vergés and Ruben Wagensberg), one from JxCat (Aurora Madaula) and another from the CUP (Carles laughed). All of them are contrary to the application of 25.4.
On the other hand, PSC - with two representatives on the Board - and commons are in favor of "applying the Parliament's regulation", although both formations assure, in public and in private, that the case against Jové and Salvadó cannot be compared with that of you will erase
In any case, sources consulted by Junts per Catalunya maintain that they will not ask for the institution's regulations to be activated at tomorrow's meeting, although the second secretary of the Board and vice president of JxCat, Madaula, had hinted that this should be activated. article, although later Junts does not support the suspension of the parliamentarians of the Republican bench.
Also the president of the formation, Borràs, had spoken in the same sense and had assumed that the regulation applies and that then they must vote against. When Borràs was suspended in July, JxCat assured that when Jové and Salvadó's turn came they would act differently.
At a press conference this Monday, the spokesperson for the commons, Joan Mena, commented that "a clear case of corruption such as that of Laura Borràs must be differentiated from another in which there is an attempt to prosecute politics." In his opinion, "mixing some cases with others does not help anyone", and in an indirect allusion to JxCat, he has indicated that the first ones would have to "differentiate" the cases that concern "people retaliated for a clearly political cause".
From the PSC they avoid advancing what will be the position of their two members in the Table and they limit themselves to pointing out that it is the governing body of the Parliament that "must make that decision", but party sources show that the origin of the case against Borràs with that of Jové and Salvadó.
