Higini Cierco, main shareholder of the Banca Privada Andorrana, declares in front of a judge that they were extorted by Spanish authorities to provide information about the bank accounts of Catalana politicians

Cierco makes it known to the Andorran courts that he had been threatened by Spanish authorities. This is part of the statement he gives due to the intervention of the banking entity on 10 March 2015 after the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the Department of the Treasury of the United States accused them of money laundering. According to Cierco, in May 2014, the Interior Deputy of the Spanish Embassy in Andorra, Celestino Barroso, asked him to meet with some people in Madrid or the bank would die. The CEO of the bank Joan Pau Miquel met with the Chief Commissioner of the Department of Internal Affairs of the National Police, Marcelino Martín Blas, who reiterated the threats and demanded, as he had already done with Cierco, information about the bank accounts of Artur Mas, Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Pujol and their respective families. This, he claims, is the source of the information that was published in a Spanish newspaper that forces Jordi Pujol to admit to having money abroad. These events allegedly took place in the framework of Operation Catalonia.