Parliament speaker could face up to six years in prison for allegedly irregular contracts
Prosecutors' office asks for 21 years of disqualification and a fine of €144,000 for Laura Borràs
Parliament speaker Laura Borràs could face up to six years in prison, be barred from office for 21 years, and be fined €144,000, as per the public prosecutor’s office request, which was made public on Thursday morning, in relation to her allegedly awarding irregular contracts during her time at the head of the Institute of Catalan Letters.
Catalonia's High Court (TSJC) indicted her on June 29 for supposedly favoring a friend, an IT professional, in what should have been put to a public tender, for which she is accused of an administrative breach of official duty, administrative fraud, falsification of a commercial document, and misuse of public funds.
The prosecutor’s office, however, did not accuse Borràs of misuse of public funds, as there are no documents certifying that the now Parliament speaker paid extra for the requested works.
The public prosecutor's office has also requested that the IT professional spend the same time as Borràs behind bars and barred from office, but has only asked that he pay a €72,000 fine.
For a third person who allegedly was aware of the supposed irregularities and who agreed to issue invoices in his name on their behalf, the public prosecutor has requested a 3-year sentence, 10-year disqualification, and €30,000 fine.
Different political views on case
The prosecutor’s office petition has been highly mentioned on Thursday in Catalan politics as the future of the Parliament is at stake.
Laura Borràs, president of the pro-independence Junts per Catalunya party, has addressed the "lack of empathy and protection during the most difficult times of a person's life as the greatest demonstration of a lack of humanity," she said in a press conference.
Her party wants to change the political force’s regulation when talking about "lawfare" judicial cases. Current party laws, as stated by Catalan political parties' general rules, establish that members will "automatically" be suspended from the force "when indicted in regards to corruption cases."
"Those condemned for one of those cases will be expelled ultimately," the law adds.
The senior coalition government, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, has urged for the Parliament speaker to step aside as she "cannot affect the chamber’s dignity," Marta Vilalta, ERC’s spokesperson said in an interview.
On a similar line, anti-capitalist and pro-independence party CUP’s spokesperson in the Spanish congress, Mireia Vehí, said Borràs should "step aside as justice would not be fair."
Spanish culture and sports minister Miquel Iceta, former Catalan socialists party leader, also mentioned what he would have done in case he was indicted.
The parliament regulation "states what it states," and according to the investigation "looks plausible" that there were split invoices.
Accused of splitting contracts to avoid tenders
Borràs was appointed director of the Institute of Catalan Letters (ILC), a public body in charge of promoting Catalan literature, on January 15, 2013.
Between March 2013 and February 2017, the ILC awarded, "through its director," 18 minor contracts related to its website, for a total value of over €330,000, in which Borràs "intervened", "proposing and awarding the contract, approving the expenditure, certifying the execution of the service, issuing the corresponding invoice and finally authorizing the payment," according to the judge's decree published on March 14.
Of these contracts, six were awarded to Isaías H., for a total of €112,500, and one to Andreu P.M., for €20,050. Both men have also been charged. Six contracts were also awarded to Xarxa Integral for €101,035 and three to Freelance for €54,437, two groups Isaías H was a member of.
The contracts amounted to a total of €330,000, of which the ILC paid out €309,000 in the end.
Shortly after being appointed director of the ILC, Borràs introduced Isaías H. to the staff as the head of the website. The two exchanged emails about invoices and contracts, concluding that the same vendor could not file invoices for different items in the same year and that they, therefore, had to "knock on doors" to bill different names and to avoid exceeding the €18,000 maximum for minor contracts.
At the time, public contracts in Catalonia over €18,000 had to be put to tender. The court alleges that Borràs fraudulently split a larger payment into smaller contracts in order to be able to choose who would be awarded the work and to avoid a public tender process.
Borràs denies allegations
Borràs has always denied the allegations and said they are a result of a "dirty war" led by Spain against the main pro-independence figures.
On June 4, she was appointed as co-president of her political party, the pro-independence Junts per Catalunya, replacing former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont in the post.
Just over a year earlier, she was appointed Catalan parliament speaker after becoming an MP as a result of the February 14, 2021 election.
Borràs could lose her post as speaker when trial is confirmed
Yet, her seat – and, therefore, her post as leader of the chamber – may be put in question as a result of this judicial case.
According to Article 25.4 of the Catalan parliament's regulations, in the event an MP is accused of corruption, "the bureau has to suspend their parliamentary rights and duties immediately" when the trial is announced and no appeals are possible – this is not the case yet, but if, as expected, the prosecutor requests to proceed and the defense loses their appeal against the indictment, Borràs will officially be sent to the dock.
At the moment, Junts has two out of the seven seats in the parliament bureau, with its senior partner in government, the fellow pro-independence party Esquerra, having two more. The Socialists have two and far-left pro-independence CUP have one.