Spain’s prosecutor investigates Catalan political party over Yes campaign in 2017 referendum

Spain’s public prosecution is investigating the far-left pro-independence party CUP for contributing 168,666.63 euros to the campaign for a Yes vote in the 2017 Catalan independence referendum. Procedures began in February and have now resumed following lockdown, with around fifteen people already having testified.

The anti-corruption prosecutor sees CUP’s action as potentially constituting embezzlement, as the referendum was deemed illegal. The investigation stems from a proposed resolution tabled a year ago by the unionist Ciudadanos party where they claimed that the allocations distributed to parliamentary groups via the parliament’s budget were to carry out their functions and not “pay for illegal activities.”

CUP has stood by its actions during the 2017 independence push, with leader Lluc Salellas stating on Monday: “We would do the same thing again and again as many times as necessary.” Spokesperson Núria Gibert said the public Prosecutor’s actions were another example of the “state judiciary criminalizing independence.”