Catalonia's government drops claim to €5 million embezzled during the independence push

The Generalitat de Cataluña, through a filing by its General Legal Counsel's office, has formally waived the recovery of the **5 million euros** allegedly embezzled during the **procés**. This decision paves the way for Spain's **Court of Auditors** (Tribunal de Cuentas) to dismiss the case against the independence leaders involved, applying the amnesty law.

## The Generalitat waives the funds

The Catalan government, led by **Salvador Illa**, has taken a decisive step that could definitively close the investigation into the embezzlement of public funds linked to the **procés**. In a filing sent to the Generalitat's legal service, the **Court of Auditors** is notified of the explicit waiver of the **4.97 million euros** estimated to have been embezzled. This stance, adopted by the Catalan administration as the only officially aggrieved party, is key to allowing the court to dismiss the case. The Generalitat's decision aligns with the application of Organic Law 1/2024 of 1 June, known as the amnesty law, which seeks to extinguish the financial liability arising from these events.

## The Court of Auditors and the amnesty

The presiding judge of the case at the **Court of Auditors**, **Elena Hernáez**, had peine a last avenue to avoid applying the amnesty. This alternative involved determining whether the embezzled money had affected **European funds**, since the amnesty would not cover such cases. In response, the association **Sociedad Civil Catalana** filed a brief requesting that the case not be dismissed without investigating the origin of the funds, arguing that the Generalitat's complex accounting, especially regarding the foreign promotion of the **procés**, made it difficult to rule out the involvement of European money. However, the Generalitat's formal waiver, as the supposedly aggrieved administration, considerably weakens this line of investigation, leaving the court with very little room to keep the case alive.

## Guarantees and precautionary measures

The Generalitat's decision to waive the embezzled funds has direct implications for the precautionary measures adopted previously. **Salvador Illa**'s predecessor, **Pere Aragonès**, had ordered the provision of guarantees worth more than **nine million euros** to secure the defendants' financial liability, thus avoiding the preventive seizure of their assets. These guarantees, issued by the **Institut Català de Finances**, amounted to **4,146,274.97 euros** for the expenses of the 1 October 2017 referendum and **5,422,411.10 euros** for foreign action between 2011 and 2017. With the Generalitat's waiver and the possible application of the amnesty, these precautionary measures are expected to become void, releasing those involved from the obligation to repay the money. The president of the Court of Auditors, **Enriqueta Chicano**, has informally conveyed that the outlook is to close this chapter, which could not be resolved through the earlier illegal 2014 consultation.