Operation Catalonia (Operació Catalunya in Catalan) is the name of a covert police operation allegedly driven by the government of Spain which aimed to curb the Catalan independence process. The operation consisted of research and information gathering about Catalan independence politicians without judicial authorization. The operation allegedly included the creation or use of false evidence, data manipulation, irregular reports, secret agents, leaks to the press and the use of threats to obtain confidential information.

The operation allegedly started after the 2012 Catalan independence demonstration. The heads of the National Police started an extrajudicial operation that was kept secret even within the corps.

The operation consisted of investigating and compiling information from politicians that were favorable to the independence of Catalonia without any judicial authorization. To do this, two methods were allegedly used: a special and secret unit of the National Police Corps, depending on the Ministry of the Interior (Spain), and also through the Spanish embassy in Andorra, dependent on the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

History of the case

On July 6, 2016, the Ex-Commissary of the National Police Corps, José Manuel Villarejo, revealed in court that he worked with former head of the internal affairs unit, Marcelino Martín Blas, to stop the pro-independence movement. Villarejo admitted that he was in charge of "investigating crimes", while Martín Blas was devoted to "appointments", "stories" and "finding sources". He also said that among the sources that Martín Blas had used there was the former head of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia, Daniel de Alfonso, who also appeared in the recordings released earlier of the two meetings held in October 2014 with the Spanish interior minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, in which both allegedly conspired to seek evidence against pro-independence politicians.

On July 11, 2016, a police report was made public, signed by Marcelino Martín Blas, that confirmed the existence of the Operation Catalunya and which states that one of the duties of Commissary José Villarejo "during the last legislature was investigating "the Catalan independence process."

On August 18, 2016, former president of Banca Privada d'Andorra, Higini Cierco, reported that he had received pressure from members of the Ministry of the Interior (Spain) and the heads of the national police to obtain banking information of some pro-independence politicians and their families. In particular, he assured that he had received threats and been blackmailed by Celestino Barroso, attaché from the Ministry of the Interior to the embassy of Spain in Andorra, and by Marcelino Martín Blas, Chief of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Spanish National Police .

The former lawyer of the Cierco brothers, Jaume Bartumeu, confirmed the threats and extortions of the Spanish police in the Cierco.

On August 22, 2016, the BPA case's Judge Canòlich Mingorance decided to notify the creation of two new causes as a result of the statements made by the Cierco brothers and sent an order to start a criminal investigation about the presumed threats and coercion exercised by the Government of Spain over the Managers of the Private Bank of Andorra to filter information that would undermine the independence process.

On August 30, 2016, it was announced by the investigative commission formed by the Parliament of Catalonia that the Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy participated in the operation. The president sent his head of Cabinet, Jorge Moragas, and the Secretary of State for Commerce, Jaime García-Legaz, to Andorra to get the BPA owners to hand over bank statements, violating Andorran law.

On July 18, 2017, the commission announced their intent to present a demand against the ten people under investigation for refusing to testify before the commission, all of them high-ranking officials of the Spanish government. Doing so is a crime under Spanish law.

As of July 20, 2017 the investigation has reached impasse due to the blocking of any proposal in congress.

List of people related to the case

This lists people currently or previously included as part of the operation.