Catalonia's chief prosecutor examines Spanish police investigation into predecessor

Catalonia's current chief prosecutor has begun a preliminary examination of Spain's National Police's alleged investigation into a former occupant of the role in 2012 and 2013, Martín Rodríguez Sol. 

Last week, an investigation by news outlets La Vanguardia, ElDiario.es, and El Nacional revealed the illegal use of police forces to investigate Catalan pro-independence parties and other figures as part of 'Operation Catalonia', a campaign run by the then Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy. 

Rodríguez Sol – one of the figures named – had public disagreements with the Spanish government during the period in question. 

The public prosecutor's decree published on Monday said that police actions could constitute crimes against privacy, prevarication (which in Spanish law refers to public officials who knowingly issue an unfair or unjust decision), and falsification of an official document. 

Rodríguez Sol 

Rodríguez Sol, considered a conservative, was appointed Catalonia's chief prosecutor in July 2012 and submitted his resignation just under a year later, in March 2013, after he did not strongly oppose Catalonia's right to decide on independence. 

He then stood for election as a candidate for Democratic Union of Catalonia in 2015, the party's final elections before dissolving. 

While chief prosecutor, he opened proceedings against El Mundo for publishing – one week before the Catalan elections – a false report on bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein belonging to the then Catalan president Artur Mas and his predecessor Jordi Pujol. 

New investigation

Catalonia's current chief prosecutor, Francisco Bañeres, has now ordered the general commissioner of the Judicial Police of Spain's National Police, Luis Fernando Pascual Grasa, for information on the investigation into Rodríguez Sol. 

According to media reports, reports on the former chief prosecutor ended up on the desk of Spain's then interior minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz. 

Operation Catalonia

The term 'Operation Catalonia' refers to the alleged covert smear campaign against members of the Catalan independence movement devised by Spanish National Police officers and the interior ministry of the conservative Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy.

Spain's Congress voted in favor of launching an investigation into 'Operation Catalonia' in September 2022. At the time of voting, the text stated that the investigation would look into "the alleged irregularities that link high-ranking officials and police commands, as well as their relationship with possible private networks or lobbies, their possible interference in the sovereignty of other countries and this plot's connections with the so-called 'Operation Catalonia'."