Court of Auditors grants amnesty to Puigdemont and 34 others over independence campaign spending

The ruling, issued on Wednesday, covers 35 defendants and orders the lifting of precautionary measures imposed during the proceedings. The case concerned public money used for the unauthorised independence referendum on 1 October 2017 and the Catalan government’s promotion of the independence movement abroad. ALSO READ: Puigdemont cleared to return to Spain as judge lifts arrest warrant after amnesty ruling.

Among those covered are former Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras and former ministers Dolors Bassa, Raül Romeva, Jordi Turull, Toni Comín and Lluís Puig.

The decision turns on the origin of the money. The court concluded that there was no evidence the expenditure had been financed from European Union funds, removing the outstanding obstacle to applying the amnesty in these proceedings.

Societat Civil Catalana (SCC), the organisation pursuing the claim, has announced an appeal.

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Disputed spending and the European ruling

The proceedings brought together expenditure associated with the referendum and the Catalan government’s overseas activities between 2011 and 2017, including its delegations abroad.

According to El País, SCC’s claim, filed in 2022, sought more than €4.2 million. Prosecutors, who had also brought proceedings before subsequently supporting the application of the amnesty, had put the allegedly misused funds at just over €3 million.

The 69-page judgment does not dispute that the expenditure took place, according to Spain’s state broadcaster, RTVE. Its findings state: ‘The defendants incurred the expenditure.’

‘This is a fact about which there has been no real dispute between the parties and which, moreover, is supported by solid evidence,’ the ruling adds. The court nevertheless concludes that the resulting accounting liability falls within the amnesty law.

That law was approved in June 2024. Prosecutors subsequently argued that it should also end the proceedings before the Court of Auditors, which determines financial liability for the use of public money. ALSO READ: Controversial Catalan amnesty law gets final approval in Spanish Congress.

However, the official responsible for the case, Elena Hernáez, referred eight questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in 2024. These included whether applying the amnesty could affect the EU’s financial interests.

The European court delivered its judgment on 16 July this year. ALSO READ: European top court rules Spain’s Catalan amnesty complies with EU law.

It established that expenditure involving EU funds could engage those interests and therefore prevent the amnesty from being applied. The adoption of the amnesty law did not, in itself, establish such an infringement. ALSO READ: EU’s top court adviser says the controversial Catalan amnesty law complies with EU legislation.

The Spanish court kept the case open while examining the implications of that ruling and rejected requests for immediate application of the amnesty in September. ALSO READ: Spanish Supreme Court refuses to grant Puigdemont amnesty despite EU court ruling.

Catalan government certificates prove decisive

Hernáez’s judgment relies on certificates from the Generalitat’s [Catalan government’s] financial oversight body, submitted by several defendants, stating that the expenditure was paid for with the Catalan government’s own resources.

The certificates say the costs ‘were financed with the Generalitat of Catalonia’s own resources’, without a recorded earmarked funding code identifying them as money from the EU budget.

The distinction became central because the Generalitat receives European funding alongside other income. Its 2017 budget included €415.64 million under transfers from the European Union.

Before the amnesty law, the judgment explains, identifying the source of the financing had been ‘entirely irrelevant’. The legislation subsequently gave that question ‘new relevance’.

SCC sought further examination of the underlying documentation. The court rejected that request, saying the organisation had neither challenged the certificates’ authenticity nor supplied concrete evidence calling their contents into question.

The judgment states that SCC ‘has not challenged the authenticity of the certificates, nor has it provided any fact, indication or objective data that could lead to a specific questioning of all or some of the matters certified’.

It therefore concludes: ‘It has not been established that funds originating from the European Union budget, or administered by it or on its behalf, were used to meet any of the expenditure.’

Both prosecutors and the Generalitat, the public authority alleged to have suffered the financial loss, supported applying the amnesty. Prosecutors argued that the European judgment and the advocate general’s opinion already ‘rule out the use of EU funds’. The Catalan government maintained that ‘there is no longer any obstacle to agreeing to apply’ the law.

SCC promises further appeals

SCC argues that the concerns which prevented the Court of Auditors from applying the amnesty immediately in September have not been resolved.

Its lawyer said the organisation had instructed him to pursue appeals at every available level, including the CJEU.

Click here for all our reports related to Catalan independence.