Corruption inquiry raid on Catalan PM’s party offices

POLICE raided the party headquarters of the Catalan premier yesterday as part of an investigation into kickbacks allegedly paid in return for public contracts.

The raid comes a month before Catalan regional elections in which Artur Mas’s conservative Catalan Democratic Convergence (CDC) is running on a joint ticket with the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) in a vote they have styled as a referendum on independence.

The Civil Guard also searched the Barcelona premises of CatDem, a political foundation linked to CDC, and four town halls. Documents were removed on the orders of a court investigating corruption allegations.

The raids focused on links between CDC and Teyco, a construction firm whose chief executive was arrested in July after investigators reportedly found handwritten documents at his home detailing payments of illegal commissions for public contracts.

Allegations of kickbacks have long dogged CDC, which has governed almost continuously since the first regional elections of Spain’s democratic era in 1980.

Josep Rull, CDC’s secretary general, claimed there was a conspiracy led by the Spanish state, saying that since last year’s referendum on independence, declared void by Spain’s constitutional court, “we know how the prosecutors operate and on whose orders”. He added: “We have nothing to hide.”

A spokesman for ERC, Mas’s Leftwing pro-independence ally, said: “We have to be ruthless in the fight against corruption. But we have seen before that these actions tend to take place before elections.”