The Court of Auditors refuses to dismiss the case investigating the Government of Catalonia’s foreign policy spending between 2011 and 2017

At the preliminary hearing, which took place on 15 December 2022, the defence teams of some thirty former high-ranking officials of the Government of Catalonia had called for the case to be dismissed. They furthermore noted that the statute of limitations for the events had lapsed and that the expenses in question had already been examined in criminal proceedings, such as the trial against the 9 November consultation and the cases of those under investigation at Examining Magistrate’s Courts no. 13 and 18 of Barcelona. Auditor Elena Hernáez replies, among other considerations, that ‘the general rule of compatibility between criminal and accounting jurisdiction applies.’ She also rules out the possibility of asking the Examining Magistrate’s Court no. 13 to decline jurisdiction in favour of the Court of Auditors with regard to the civil liability of the amounts demanded and already deposited, considering that criminal jurisdiction always takes precedence and that there is no violation of the principle of non bis in idem.