417 MILLION EUROS BETWEEN 2011 AND 2017 Diplocat's 50,000 expenses: banquets, "gifts" to journalists and € 300,000 to Switzerland The accounting and confidential reports of Diplocat, the diplomatic arm of the Governments of Mas and Puigdemont, reveal that they did not restrain expenses to sell the ‘procés’ internationally

Independence protest in February 2019 before the headquarters of the European Commission for the trial of the 'procés' in the Supreme Court. (EFE) Marcos Garcia Rey Beatriz Parera Tags: Independence of Catalonia, Independence, Trial of the procés, Generalitat of Catalonia, Quim Torra, Artur Mas, Carles Puigdemont, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell 07/23/2019 05:00 - Updated: 07/23/2019 08:34 It was raining heavily in Bornholm (Denmark) in mid-June 2017. The Festival of People's Democracy (Folkemødet) was held on that island of the Baltic Sea. There were four short months left before the referendum for self-determination would take place in Catalonia. There, at Bornholm, a high-level delegation from the Council of Public Diplomacy of Catalonia, better known as Diplocat, had come to participate in the round table entitled ‘Can Catalonia become the next EU country?’. The Generalitat's external machinery led by Carles Puigdemont was running at full throttle in 2017 in order to influence international public opinion and capture its sympathy for the independence cause. The Catalan delegation, headed by the secretary general of Diplocat, Albert Royo, had not anticipated the annoyance of the rain. Just to be clear: the rainiest season in Denmark is summer. So they had to buy some umbrellas in exchange for 25.39 euros. They passed that payment as representation expense. Royo was accompanied on the Danish island by Francesca Guardiola (sister of Pep Guardiola), now a delegate of the Government in the Nordic countries, by Diana Corominas, predecessor of Guardiola in office, and by Joan Majó, industrial engineer and Minister of Industry and Energy between 1985 and 1986 with Felipe González. The members of the expedition to Denmark not only did not have umbrellas, but in turn they traveled without soap and shampoo (17,02 euros more to be added to the records), as reflected in the accounting entries of Diplocat between 2013 and 2017 to which has had exclusive access to El Confidencial. These small expenses mean a lot to understand how Diplocat made a great waste of public money to favor self-determination, facts that are being investigated in the 13th court of instruction of Barcelona and in the trial of the ‘procés’ iin the Supreme Court.

Of course, the logistics of the trip to Denmark of these four people meant the expenditure of thousands of euros more for taxpayers between air and train tickets, taxis, allowances, accommodation, various snacks and other expenses. As an example, only the rental of the room and the technical equipment for the presentations organized by Diplocat on June 16 amounted to 6,881 euros.

Albert Royo, former secretary general of Diplocat, testifies at the 'procés' trial in March 2019. (EFE) Participation in the Folkemødet event is outlined in the Memoria de actividades 2017 [‘Activity Report 2017’] of Diplocat. This document also reports the presence in other “political and opinion festivals” that had “the presence of MPs and members of the Government” in 2017. They went to Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. With their respective disbursements, obvious. In August, the independent diplomatic battering ram was also present at Almedalen Week (Sweden) and invested thousands of euros in logistics. Among other payments, the participation of a moderator of the Diplocat round table was worth 1,700 euros; the rent of the room, 1,194; a post-event catering, 955; the plane and the hotels of the assistants, 1,408 euros; and thus a long list of expenses associated with this type of activities. This newspaper does not make easy jokes based on the topics that popular wisdom has been building on the idiosyncrasies of certain peoples. But it is a reality that Diplocat officials took very seriously the fact of spending all the expenses incurred during their professional activities. As El Confidencial has been able to verify, in Diplocat's accounting, there are hundreds of proofs of disbursements from senior officials that do not exceed five euros for coffees, snacks, purchase of newspapers, subway and bus trips or other small expenses. Albert Royo bought newspapers worth 4 euros at the Festival of Denmark and passed it to the accounting system. In April 2017, the same secretary general of Diplocat took a small snack in Madrid in exchange for 3.7 euros and notified it just to be reimbursed. All the employees and officials do the same, but it is also striking that he who was 'ambassador' of the Government in the United States, Andrew Scott Davis, managed to get reimbursed many expenses, even the lowest ones (also some thousands of euros not clearly defined). For example, he was reintegrated with a multitude of lunches and ‘snacks’ that did not exceed eight euros. Also, he could not stop using his electronic devices on airplanes with Wi-Fi. On an hour and a half flight between Washington and Boston, he paid 4.38 euros for the use of the Wi-Fi connection. Of course, this expense appears in the accounting book notes.

Andrew S. Davis, 'former ambassador' of the Generalitat in the US, along with Quim Torra in Washington. (EFE) This newspaper has been able to analyze the Diplocat accounting detailed in Excel documents, whose total entries exceed 50,000. Likewise, we have had the opportunity to read dozens of reports and reports on the external action of the Generalitat prepared since 2013. Many of these writings have the ‘confidential’ watermark stamped on their pages. The multiple documents on the Catalan pro-sovereignty action include invoices with all their details, texts of reports commissioned to international organizations and consultants, memories of the Catalan 'embassies' spread around the world, bank transfers, databases that collect thousands of expense records or the minutes of the contracts with third parties, among other files of a very different nature. All this documentation is also in the hands of Alejandra Gil Lima, head of the 13th court of instruction of Barcelona, who investigates more than 30 defendants in relation to the organization of the 1-O referendum and the design and creation of state structures for a hypothetical future Catalan republic. The cause of Barcelona goes mainly against the actions of government officials and advisors for alleged crimes of misappropriation of public money, disobedience, documentary falsification, disobedience and disclosure of secrets in the preparations for 1-O. Artur Mas appointed president of the Advisory Council for the National Transition to Carles Viver to build the state structures of the 'new republic' The majority of this enormous documentation has been obtained by the Judicial Police of the Guardia Civil from two main sources: the Department of Institutional and Foreign Affairs and Transparency directed by Raül Romeva, today on remand for being investigated in the trial of the 'procés', and the office of the so-called "architect" and "authentic maker" of the official road map of the Generalitat "to declare and proclaim independence". Who is that thinking head? He is Carles Viver Pi-Sunyer (Tarrasa, 1949), jurist, academic and magistrate of the Constitutional Court between 1992 and 2001. In early 2013, Artur Mas appointed him president of the Advisory Council for the National Transition to build state structures of the hypothetical new Catalan republic. As read in the documentation held by El Confidencial, Carles Viver diligently exercised his work to erect the foundations of these state structures. Not only did he draw the master lines to start up the new state or founding a sovereign police and army, but in April 2014 he had presented to his superiors the outline of the ‘Ministeri d’Affers Exteriors’ report. It contains 69 pages dealing with the creation and development of the diplomacy of the new country, always contemplating it within the European Union. External action was always one of the priorities of the Catalan Governments chaired by Artur Mas and Carles Puigdemont in order to achieve sufficient international support to applaud the legitimacy of their desire for independence and to project an image of a democratic country as opposed to the Spanish State that represses the right to decide of citizenship. For that reason, the Generalitat never paid for expenses to guarantee this support. Spending soared in 2017 A report of the Court of Auditors published last March indicated that between 2011 and 2017 the Generalitat had invested 417 million euros of public funds for these purposes. As it revealed, Diplocat only used 60.5 million in that seven-year period for the 231 foreign relations program, but in the end many other budget items originated in different Catalan regional executive bodies reached the sum of those 417 million referred.

Expenses from Diplocat (2011-2017), according to a report from the Court of Auditors. The year of the 1-0 referendum, expenses skyrocketed over the other years. In 2017, the Generalitat's foreign action invested more than 82 million euros, although it was only operational for 10 months. The central government intervened autonomy through the application of article 155 on October 28 of that year. In that sense, the accounting books contain a multitude of trips abroad in 2017 by the Secretary General of Diplocat: Sao Paulo (Brazil), Montevideo, Madrid (which is considered abroad in the literature of the external action of the Government), Rome, London, Brussels, Belfast, Augsburg (Germany), Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe (Japan), Atlanta (USA) and thus a long list of about twenty countries Royo visited. The taste for well eating Something irreproachable to the members of Diplocat is that they have a good palate. In Barcelona, when they must sacrifice their time to dedicate it to professional invitations to restaurants they frequent places of excellent cuisine ‘of the country’. The Principal del Eixample is one of their favorites. Numerous accounting entries quote this name. "All our dishes are made with seasonal and local products, made with the aim of maintaining the flavor and essence of the products", reads its website. An entree, a main course, dessert, drinks and coffee does not come at less than 80 euros per person. The invoices to be seen in the books testify for meals of four or five people: 335.50, 412.50, 547, 587 ... euros. They also go to other high-quality restaurants in the Catalan capital such as 7 Portes or Racó d’en Cesc. In May 2017, on the occasion of the Diplocat Advisory Council meeting, a catering was organized for 26 people that cost the public coffers 3,469 euros. That is, at a rate of 133 euros per place setting. It must have been a great gastronomic experience.

The Catalan cook Carme Ruscalleda is a member of the Advisory Council of Diplocat. (EFE) The Advisory Council is made up of “persons of recognized prestige and international experience in the fields of economics, politics, international affairs or other sectors related to functions” of Diplocat. Among those personalities are the religious Sister Lucia Caram, former soccer player Xavi Hernández, former tennis player Alex Corretja, tenor Josep Carreras, cook Carme Ruscalleda, philosopher Josep Ramoneda or former socialist minister Joan Majó. Also included as a member of that council is the specialist in genetics Xavier Estivill, who in his Twitter account displays in each message his commitment to the independence project. Perhaps because of this ideological position, only perhaps, Diplocat subsidized his trip to a meeting in Doha in April 2017. Only the round trip plane from Barcelona cost taxpayers a total of 905 euros. Influencing international politicians and media The ‘Memoria de actividades 2017’ [Activity Report 2017] of Diplocat reflects that one of the institution’s objectives is to “explain the Catalan reality to the main international decision makers” and “influence the published international opinion”. This is not hidden in public documents or confidential documents. Moreover, it can be seen diaphanously in the accounting books. One of the core lines of work of Diplocat is the 'International Visitors Program' (PVI) through which it organizes symposia and other events in Catalonia and abroad to report its pro-independence arguments to politicians, economists, journalists, academics and professionals of many other areas. By the way, among the documentation of the summary of the judicial court of Barcelona there is a list of arguments of 23 pages to counteract the voice of the Spanish State abroad. It is entitled ‘Chronicle of a premeditated offensive’ and denounces in its first paragraph the “hyperactivity” of the State “at the time of recentralizing and limiting the self-government” of Catalonia. That argument was distributed in the spring of 2017 among all officials and defenders of independence to replicate it in the forums where they participated and to use it in statements to the media.

Regarding the PVI, the stay of 28 politicians during September 28 and October 2, 2017 - just before, during and after the holding of the illegal 1-O referendum - had a cost of 68,922 euros for the public treasury. MPs arrived from 17 different countries in Europe and Israel who sympathize with Catalan sovereignty. Among them, the Spanish MEPs Joan Juaristi, from EH Bildu, and María Lidia Senra, from Anova were also invited.

Budget of the visit to Barcelona of foreign politicians. In the context of this international visitor program, 11 people related to Mercosur were also invited to Catalonia between September 5 and 8. The bill for the public coffers was 56,225 euros for a three nights stay. Only the cost of accommodation amounted to 9,900 euros, that is, at a rate of 300 euros per night of hotel room per person. As regards the 14 international observers hired without public contest by the Generalitat and its Diplocat in the weeks prior to the referendum on October 1, 2017, Catalan public coffers invested up to 206,567 euros in their work. The so-called International Team of Electoral Research Experts went to live on the eve, on the day and the day after the 1-O referendum, with the aim of publishing in the medium term an independent report on the political context of Catalonia in relation to the consultation not authorized by the Constitutional Court. On the day of the 1-O, the observers visited the cities of Barcelona, Figueres, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona to follow up in an electoral venue the development of the referendum. In the team of observers there were experts in electoral processes and democratic practices, media analysts, political consultants, jurists and economists. The countries where they came from were France, Ireland, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. Their contracts with the Generalitat were always made without public advertising and signed by Albert Royo. Albert Royo himself, investigated for these facts in Court 13 of Barcelona, testified as witness in the trial of the procés in the Supreme Court. In the court, forced by law to tell the truth as a witness, Royo said the following: "We did not give any fees to international observers". But Royo did not tell the truth according to the information that is held by El Confidencial and can be consulted by clicking here: the observers charged a total sum of 105,000 euros for just a few days of work. The judges will rule whether Royo committed the crime of perjury or not. On the occasion of the commemoration of the Diada on September 11, three weeks before the referendum, the Diplocat organized the PVI Media South America. With a budget of 17,295 euros, the diplomatic arm of pro-sovereignty Govern paid the trip to six American journalists to cover the events and demonstrations of the Day. The reporters were: Matilde Sánchez (Argentina, 'Clarín'), Cristina Cifuentes (Chile, 'La Tercera'), Felipe Benjamin (Brazil, 'O Globo'), Alicia Quazzolo (Argentina), Cecilia Pérez Otero (Uruguay, 'La Diaria') and Nestor Aburto (Chile, Bio Bio TV). They had the opportunity to meet with Carles Pugdemont, Raül Romeva and Carme Forcadell, then president of the Parliament. The average cost of airline tickets was 2,170 euros. In the accounting entries, the word “gifts” can be seen in the “other expenses” item. There are no more details about it in the account book.

Demonstration for the Diada in the streets of Barcelona in 2017. (Reuters) The agitprop machinery was running at full steam in 2017. Diplocat paid for and published 22 opinion articles in prestigious foreign media to defend its policies of the “right to decide” and in favor of self-determination. Puigdemont, Romeva or Royo appeared in the credits of articles appeared in media such as ‘The Guardian’, ‘The New York Times’, ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’, ‘The National’ of Scotland or ‘Le Soir’ of Belgium. In an accounting notification of February 25 equivalent to 21,659 euros it can be read the following: "Articles about Catalonia in English 2017 (1 newspaper)". However, the medium is not specified. All other payments to international media do not appear explicitly. However, many annotations of tens of thousands of euros appear in the books without justification. This is the case with a charge of 89,376 euros on February 28, 2017. In the accounting books of the Diplocat, the debits of the credit cards used by the senior officials are not broken down, including the ‘ambassadors’. Albert Royo spent ten monthly receipts of his Visa in 2017 for a total value of 14,879 euros. None of the payments with his card are detailed in the accounting records. The intervention of the Diplocat accounts after the application of article 155 by the Executive of Mariano Rajoy cut off access to his card from November. He also had to leave his post as secretary general. The public treasury assigned a compensation of 3,378 euros for his dismissal. The control of the local media The ‘procés’ has the support of a media choir that functions for economic interest, regardless of whether its journalists are pro-independence or not. In recent years, the Generalitat has given generous grants to private media in Catalonia. Regarding public media, it is enough to point out that Vicent Sanchis, director of TV3, and Saül Gordillo, director of Catalunya Ràdio, are accused of disobedience in the case instructed by Judge Alejandra Gil Lima in Barcelona. They did not comply with the decision of the Constitutional Court in which it was considered “expressly prohibited any type of publicity about the call”. In the 20 days before the referendum, both public media bombarded the audience with more than 600 ads in favor of the right to decide.

Regarding the newspapers of the pro-independence editorial line, the Generalitat has pampered them to tame their discourse. The newspapers ‘Ara’ and ‘Vilaweb’ publish in their web domains the logo of the Department of the Presidency of the Generalitat as their main collaborator. But Diplocat has also contributed in recent years to its subsidized course. Only in 2017 and until article 155 was applied, the publishing company of ‘Vilaweb’, Partal Maresma i Associats SL, received 13,842 euros, according to the calculation made by El Confidencial based on the accounting entries of Diplocat. For its part, Edició de Premsa Periòdica Ara SL, the publishing company of the newspaper 'Ara', received as direct grants from Diplocat a total of 22,869 euros before the sinister day for the independence economy of October 27, 2017, date on which the State intervened the accounts of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. ‘Ara’ also collaborated and still collaborates with Diplocat for the English translation of propaganda content that is then published on the Catalonia Votes web portal. This communication channel of independence was closed during the application of 155, but it already works again at full speed. "The will of this website is to present to the world the desire and attempts of the Catalan people to be able to freely decide on their political future through a peaceful and democratic referendum”, reads the digital portal. For those services, only in 2017, ‘Ara’ billed Diplocat a total of 35,937 euros. Even Diplocat satisfied the Catalan daily bill for November, with the application of 155 already in force. The waste of ‘embassies’ A book could be written about the history of the delegations of the Generalitat since 2013 and the contents of their accounting books until the end of 2017 when they were paralyzed by the application of 155. Let's summarize. Let's start by emphasizing that in 2013 only four ‘embassies’ of Diplocat had opened their doors: the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. When their activities were temporarily interrupted in October 2017, the number of delegations already amounted to 12 with influence over many other countries. If in 2013 the embassies invested just half a million euros, by 2016 that figure had already quintupled. The key year of 2017, Diplocat and its ‘embassies’ pushed the boat out to sell the 1-O referendum and spent five million euros, twice as much as in 2016. The 'embassies' that have spent the most are those of the United States, 2.5 million euros since 2013, and the delegation to the European Union institutions with almost two million euros since 2014, always in accordance with the analysis carried out by The Confidential of the accounting records of Diplocat and its databases incorporated into the summary of the court of Barcelona presided by Judge Gil Lima. Only in rents and maintenance of the offices of the 'embassies' in central places of large capitals did they amount and still now amount to large disbursements of public money. The cleaning of the delegation to the EU in Brussels involved a monthly expense of 1,816 euros throughout 2017, according to Diplocat accounting records. Regarding the 'embassy' in Copenhagen, the monthly rent of the office amounted to 9,415 euros and its cleaning to 1,174 during the same year of the 1-O celebration. The creation stages of Catalan ‘embassies’ around the world were already designed by the report cited above:‘ Ministeri d’Affers Exteriors ’(2014). Its elaboration was carried out by the architect of ‘procés’, Carlos Viver. The organization chart presented below contains which ‘embassies’ would be opened over time. The document reads as follows: “For the first 5 or 6 years of ‘transition’ [after independence] the need to create 43 embassies is contemplated”.

Timeline for the setting up of embassies by the hypothetical independent Catalan republic. The judge of the 13th court of investigation investigates the waste and embezzlement of public funds by the ‘embassies’. The tax, police and judicial actors have been alerted about alleged illegal activities at the end of the mandate of the delegations, just before the application of article 155 entered into force. What were these activities? Basically, as of the end of September, some ‘embassies’ requested a generous extension of their budget for 2017. The ‘embassy’ in Geneva requested an increase of 300,000 euros to reach 760,000. Four days after the referendum, on September 27, the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Generalitat granted this increase of 60% with respect to the initial budget. The Geneva scheme was repeated in the delegation to the European Union. The original budget for 2017 was 737,800 euros, but the Brussels 'embassy' requested two increases of 425,374 and 40,500 euros granted to it from Barcelona, respectively, on September 27, four days before 1-O, and on October 24, three days before the application of article 155. The Catalan delegation in Rome acquired a 'senyera' and a European Union flag for its headquarters at the price of 1,690 euros These facts are being viewed with magnifying glass by the police and the judiciary because they do not seem the result of chance. The last item of 40,500 euros allocated when the intervention of the Govern accounts was about to begin was justified in the chapter “training of the delegation's own staff”.

Dubious expansion of the budget for 2017 in the Catalan ‘embassy’ of Geneva. The “embassies” wastefulness is varied, according to the accounting provided by the Generalitat itself at the request of Judge Gil Lima which this newspaper also has had access to. Payments without apparent textual justification, air tickets and hotels of very high prices, receptions with great waste on occasion of the visits of the 'MHP' Jordi Pujol, Artur Mas and Carles Puigdemont to different countries, office and rooms rents for events rather striking for their high cost, or the purchase of 'senyeras' at the very price of gold. With regard to the latter, only one example for the reader to understand: in May 2015, the Catalan delegation of Rome acquired a 'senyera' and a European Union flag for its headquarters at the price of 1,690 euros. Among the expenses collected in the accounting of the ‘embassies’ that attract the most attention are those related to the organization of traditionally Catalan festivals such as Sant Jordi and La Diada. In 2017, this last commemoration took on a very special meaning due to its temporary proximity to the 1-O referendum. So Diplocat and its delegations abroad were splendid in dedicating public resources to the celebration of the Diada: concerts, receptions with catering and the hiring of a master of ceremonies, gifts to guests, exhibitions and a long list of activities to promote the “right to decide”. Below we show a capture of the database on delegations' expenses in 2017 click if you want to enlarge the image]. We have selected some picturesque disbursements that served to commemorate the Diada in numerous cities, including some astonishing as Bratislava, a capital that has few historical relations with Catalonia. Curious are some of those expenses, among them, the 15,764 euros paid by the Berlin delegation exclusively for the catering and the rental of the place where the Diada was held. The accounting records reflect many more items, even less substantial: 500 euros for a concert by the artist Ares Gratal, 252 euros for the purchase of cava, 250 for a photographic report or 190 euros for the printing of a brochure to be distributed among the guests of the events of the Diada in Germany. For its part, the London delegation used even more public resources to commemorate the Diada. It employed a total of about 40,000 euros. Among the cost items, the “courtesy gift for guests” entry, a gift that as a whole cost Spanish taxpayers 2,018 euros, is to be noticed.

Several expenses of the Catalan ‘embassies’ for the Diada of 2017. Meanwhile, this July, the State Attorney requested the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia to stop the activity of the delegations of the Generalitat in Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Switzerland, for understanding that they are violating the exclusive competence of the State in terms of international relations as a limit of the external action of the autonomous communities. However, the Govern is still operating another six ‘embassies’ today: in France, in Brussels before the European Union, in Copenhagen before the Nordic countries, in Zagreb for the Balkan countries, in Italy and in the United States. The request comes in the form of a precautionary measure and in the context of the administrative contentious appeal that the Foreign Ministry filed in 2018 against the decree of the Generalitat that restored those three delegations and many others, those of Rome, Paris and Washington. At the beginning of last May, the president of the Generalitat, Quim Torra, smiled at the cameras of the photographers at the official reopening of Diplocat. "We had a commitment: Diplocat returns a year and a half after the attempt to liquidate it with the 155", Torra wrote on his Twitter account. The challenge to the Spanish State and its judicial decisions returns with renewed forces. The current president of the Government, Quim Torra, is a firm ally of the cause for the self-determination of Catalonia. And, like his predecessors in the position, he trusts that Diplocat will help to reach his maximum desire: a new independent state within the European Union.

https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2019-07-23/delpilfarro-diplocat-proces- independentismo-cataluna_2136351/