Puigdemont denies hiring police escort services in trial of former minister

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont denied that he urged the former interior minister, Miquel Buch, to hire a policeman to act as his security escort while he was in exile. 

Puigdemont gave testimony on Friday in the trial against Buch, who is accused of misuse of public funds for arranging the security services for the former president in Belgium. 

Also on trial is Lluís Escolà, the Catalan police agent who accompanied Puigdemont in Belgium. 

The ex-president who led the 2017 independence referendum also assured that all the police officers who accompanied him to Belgium were not on official duty at the time and did not act as a police escort, since they did not carry a weapon, baton, bulletproof vest, nor did they have authorization to do so. 

He added that Escolà was a "good friend" of his who "accompanied" him in exile.

Puigdemont gave his testimony via video link from Belgium, where he has been living in exile since the peak of the independence push.

Also on Friday, the head of the Catalan government's police escorts also gave testimony. The inspector explained that police accompaniment services must be communicated to their superiors the journeys made by the protected personalities, with the exception of strictly private acts.

According to the testimony, Escolà called him to ask for holidays on October 29, 2017, and this was granted as Escolà had accumulated many extra hours. Two days earlier, Escolà helped Puigdemont flee to Belgium, something he did not tell his superiors about, and which resulted in other security personnel waiting outside Puigdemont's house without knowing that it was empty.

The inspector also explained that Escolà's back problems meant he could not act as a personal bodyguard, as he could not do the necessary physical training.