The “Pujol 3 billion” case was one of the great scandals that shook the Spanish political landscape a few years ago. It was an alleged hidden fortune that the family of former Catalan president Jordi Pujol had accumulated for decades, and that especially implicated his youngest son, Oleguer. However, after a long judicial investigation, the judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz archived the case due to “lack of evidence of a crime.” What few know is that this case was an operation orchestrated by the so-called patriotic police, a plot of police officers and commanders at the service of the Ministry of the Interior of Mariano Rajoy’s government, which had the objective of discrediting the Catalan independence movement.
The origin of the case: the Ole Project
The patriotic police, led by retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, was dedicated to fabricating false reports, leaking sensitive data to the press and carrying out illegal surveillance of politicians, businessmen and journalists whom they considered enemies of the State. One of their main targets was the Pujol clan, which they saw as the symbol of Catalan nationalism and the promoter of the sovereignty process. To do this, they created the so-called Ole Project, which consisted of investigating the business activities of Oleguer Pujol, who was dedicated to the purchase and sale of real estate through foreign investment funds.
The Ole Project was based on information that Villarejo obtained from an alleged German confidant, who told him that Oleguer Pujol received commissions from the fund that managed his real estate operations. One of these operations was the acquisition of a portfolio of 1,152 offices from Banco Santander and Grupo Prisa, which was valued at around 2,000 million euros. The patriotic police inflated this figure to 3,000 million, and presented it as proof of the Pujols’ illicit fortune. However, this operation was totally legal and transparent, and there was no irregularity or tax crime on the part of Oleguer Pujol or his investment fund.
Media and judicial manipulation
The case of the “Pujol 3 billion” was widely disseminated by the media related to unionism, which used it as a weapon against the Catalan independence movement. An image of widespread corruption and illicit enrichment at the expense of the public treasury was created, which affected the entire family of former President Pujol. The case also had a judicial impact, since Judge Pedraz opened a case against Oleguer Pujol and 18 other people for the crimes of money laundering, tax fraud and criminal organization. The case was based on reports from the patriotic police, which did not provide any solid or truthful evidence, but rather mere conjectures and suspicions.
For ten years, Judge Pedraz kept the case open, subjecting Oleguer Pujol and his family to constant scrutiny and precautionary measures such as the withdrawal of their passport, the prohibition of leaving the country and the blocking of their bank accounts. However, he never found any indication that Oleguer Pujol had committed any crime, nor that he had a fortune hidden abroad. Finally, in October 2023, Judge Pedraz decided to archive the case, recognizing that there was no evidence or reason to continue investigating.
The truth comes to light: the involvement of the patriotic police
The filing of the “Pujol 3 billion” case was a setback for the patriotic police, who saw one of their main plots against the Catalan independence movement dismantled. But the worst was yet to come, since the Spanish police themselves uncovered the involvement of Villarejo’s plot in this case. In a report from January 2022, the Internal Affairs Unit of the National Police Corps revealed that among the documentation seized from Villarejo was the Ole Project, which demonstrated that the patriotic police had fabricated the “3,000 million Pujol” case. » based on false information and without any rigor. The report was incorporated into the Tándem summary, the macro-case that investigates Villarejo’s illicit businesses and his connections with the Ministry of the Interior.
Furthermore, a recorded conversation between Villarejo and the former head of the Internal Affairs Unit, Marcelino Martín Blas, in April 2013, confirmed that the two were behind the case. In the conversation, Villarejo told Martín Blas that he had a new confidant who would give him information about the Pujol family, and that it was the Ole Project. Martín Blas advised him to go “slowly” because “it was more complicated than the rest.” The conversation was also included in the Tándem summary, which is under the instruction of the judge of the National Court Manuel García Castellón, who last week again rejected the Pujols’ appearance. However, this decision could change, taking into account the report and the conversation that show the manipulation of the patriotic police.
Conclusions
The “Pujol 3 billion” case has been one of the most flagrant examples of the actions of the patriotic police, which used their resources and influence to try to discredit the Catalan independence movement and its leaders. This is an operation based on lies, without any legal or journalistic basis, that sought to create a hostile public opinion towards Catalonia and its right to decide. However, the truth has come to light, and it has been demonstrated that the Pujol family did not have any hidden fortune, nor had they committed any crime. On the contrary, those who have committed crimes are those responsible for the patriotic police, who will have to answer to justice for their illegal and undemocratic actions.