The negotiations against the clock between the PSOE and the Catalan independence parties to push forward the amnesty law in exchange for support for Pedro Sánchez for the investiture have found a stumbling block. One of the obstacles, which was expected to be resolved on Wednesday night, is becoming increasingly difficult to overcome and has its own name: operation Voloh.
This is a case initiated by Barcelona judge Joaquín Aguirre on the financial structure of the process and in which the head of Carles Puigdemont's office, Josep Lluis Alay - specifically in two -, the former leader of CDC David Madí, and other leaders such as Francesc de Dalmases or Victor Terradellas. Legal sources maintain that today this matter does not have any secret part.
Originally the matter started with an issue of corruption due to the diversion of funds in the Barcelona Provincial Council. The fiscal economic crime unit (UDEF) of the National Police found during the searches of Operation Estela, in May 2018, that the people investigated were also related to the process. Judge Aguirre chose to withdraw the Police from the case and leave it in the hands of the Civil Guard. As a result of the records and telephone conversations, the instructor began a new piece, Operation Voloh. This case is not only an investigation into the alleged diversion of public money from the Generalitat for the process, but it is an amalgamation of matters in which it is also investigated, from the enrichment of some businessmen with political ties to the disorders caused by the platform. Democratic Tsunami, including the alleged Russian plot that would support independence. At the center of the case is the former ERC councilor Xavier Vendrell, who in November 2020 was arrested along with twenty other people.
Unexpectedly, when the agreement to present the amnesty law proposal was about to be closed, the team of former president Carles Puigdemont has put this issue on the table. One of the names that now comes to the fore is that of the head of Puigdemont's office for an oil sale between Russian and Chinese companies that was suspected of hiding illegal financing. The instructor filed this piece in 2022 when he did not find “solid” indications that it was criminal. However, in the order in which he agreed to dismiss Josep Lluís Alay, he warned that other data “with a criminal appearance” found on his mobile phone could be used in other separate pieces of the case.
In fact, Alay is involved in other matters, which are now sought to be amnestied. The pact that had been worked out with the socialists is that the amnesty includes causes that are related to the sovereignty consultation of November 9, 2014 and the referendum of October 1, 2017 and also to the subsequent altercations.
