The Supreme Court takes over the case against Laura Borràs and the Congress of Deputies passes the waiver of parliamentary immunity

In accordance with Spanish laws on parliamentary immunity, the Ninth Examining Magistrate’s Court of Barcelona refers the proceedings against Laura Borràs, a member of Congress for JxCat, to the Supreme Court, which opens a case against her. The Ninth Examining Magistrate’s Court of Barcelona reports that Borràs, during her time as the head of the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes, may have split large contracts into smaller ones in order to avoid the relevant administrative procedures and award them directly, which could constitute crimes of prevarication, fraud in the public administration, embezzlement of public funds and document forgery. On 22 May 2020, the Supreme Court agrees to ask to Congress to waive Borràs’s parliamentary immunity so that it can try her. On 25 June 2020, the waiver of parliamentary immunity is passed, with PSOE, PP, VOX, Podemos and Ciudadanos voting in favour and JxCat and the PNV voting against it. ERC and the CUP do not participate in the vote. Finally, on 24 March 2021, following the 14 February Parliament of Catalonia electionsin which Borràs was elected as an MP for JxCat, the Supreme Court declares that it does not have the jurisdiction to try the case, which it refers to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.