Andorran justice has opened an investigation into the former head of the Spanish government Mariano Rajoy and two ex-ministers, suspected of pressuring an Andorran bank to obtain information concerning Catalan political figures, we learned on Tuesday 14 June from a judicial source.
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Mariano Rajoy as well as the former ministers of the Budget, Cristobal Montoro, and of the Interior, Jorge Fernandez Diaz, have been notified by the courts that "
complaints lodged against them by the legal representatives of the Human Rights Institute of Andorra (...) were admitted for treatment in the framework of the preliminary procedure
”, according to the same source.
coercion, threats, blackmail and extortion
Investigating judge Stéphanie Garcia issued letters rogatory to inform all three that they would be summoned as part of an investigation for coercion, threats, blackmail and extortion, to the detriment of leaders of the Banca Privada Andorra (BPA ) and that they had 15 days to appoint a lawyer.
The Andorran Human Rights Institute and DRETS, a collective of lawyers from Barcelona close to the Catalan independence movement, as well as leaders of the BPA filed a complaint in 2019 for facts dating back to 2015. “
While the tension was in the higher up between the Spanish government and the Catalan separatists, a Spanish policeman blackmailed an Andorran bank, to ask for banking information on the Pujol family, Artur Mas and Oriol Junqueras
", relates Elisa Muxella, president of the Andorran Institute .
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Jordi Pujol and Artur Mas are former presidents of the Catalonia region (Generalitat), and Oriol Junqueras was vice-president.
Mariano Rajoy, of the Popular Party (PP, right), led the Spanish government from 2011 to 2018, until his overthrow by parliament, following a motion of censure.
Current Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez succeeded him.
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