The Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, considered yesterday that there is an “inversion of the rule of law” in the alleged investigation into the former superior prosecutor of Catalonia Martín Rodríguez Sol by the Ministry of ‘Interior when it was directed by Jorge Fernández Díaz, published by La Vanguardia and Eldiario.es last week. For this reason, he described it as “very serious” that this investigation was carried out, which put “the structure of the rule of law at risk”, as he explained in an interview with TVE, in which he endorsed, a day after taking possession of the position, the proceedings opened on Monday by the Catalan Prosecutor’s Office to clarify this matter after the aforementioned information became known.
“It is serious – he indicated – that those who have the obligation and the duty to investigate, which are the prosecutors, the top of this territorial structure in the autonomous community of Catalonia are the ones being investigated without being informed and there is no cause or any obligation to do so; it is the absolute reversal of roles in a State of law”, said García Ortiz.
The Prosecutor’s Office draws attention to the document that accompanies the information “allegedly official in appearance with the letterhead of the Internal Affairs Unit of the General Directorate of the National Police Force”, and which does not bear any signature of any person in charge of internal affairs nor date.
For García Ortiz, the opening of proceedings is a “transcendent and opportune” issue because the structure of the rule of law was put “at risk”. “Let’s see what we find through the evidence”, he said, and reminded that the prosecutors are not investigated, but they are the ones who do it.
Likewise, he justified that so far no macro case has been opened on the Catalonia operation because “it is yet to be determined whether it existed”. And he added that much documentation is already included in open cases or that have been addressed previously.
However, he did not want to rule out any scenario. And he pointed out that it is necessary to see where “this journalistic investigation is going, which data have procedural significance and can be incorporated into the cases”. If it is necessary to open new investigations, he pointed out, “of course it will be done”.
In a decree, signed on Monday by the chief prosecutor of Catalonia, Francisco Bañeras, the public ministry opened proceedings to clarify the attempt to investigate the former chief prosecutor, with the apparent aim of seeking incriminating evidence against him. The aforementioned decree also highlights that that investigation “of a pre-trial nature” was never brought to the attention of any judicial body or the fiscal ministry despite the fact that the agents in charge “were legally obliged to do so”. In the alleged report that was released last week, it is explained that the investigation is looking for links between the prosecutor and Unió Democràtica de Catalunya and the commissions managed by the party’s lawyers.
