Swiss UBS guarantees that Mayor of Barcelona doesn't have any account, rejecting 'El Mundo' accusations

Barcelona (ACN).- On Friday, the Swiss bank UBS issued a certificate stating that Xavier Trias, Mayor of Barcelona, does not and has never had any account with them, contradicting the accusations launched at him by Spanish nationalist newspaper 'El Mundo' on Monday, which mentioned sources from the Spanish Home Affairs Ministry. Trias, who supports Catalan independence from Spain, strongly rejected the accusations of having €12.9 million in a secret bank account in Switzerland on the very first day they were published and he cautioned against the dirty tricks used by the Spanish Government. In addition, the Mayor also announced a judicial complaint against the newspaper and he said he would ask for such a certificate. On Tuesday, 'El Mundo' insisted on the accusations and it even published the UBS bank account number on its front page, while Trias filed the judicial complaint. Now, after UBS guaranteed that he has never had and does have a bank account with them, Trias is asking for the resignation of the Spanish Home Affair Minister, Jorge Fernández Días, who is in charge of the Spanish Police. On November 9 an alternative consultation vote on independence will take place in Catalonia and Trias is a leading member of the governing centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU. In addition, early elections to the Catalan Parliament are expected in the coming months and municipal elections are also due in May. Besides, in the last few months, 'El Mundo' has published many scoops accusing the governing People's Party of corruption.

On Friday The Mayor of Barcelona showed a certificate from Swiss bank UBS proving he does not hold the bank account number published by 'El Mundo' and that he has never had any account with such a bank. Therefore, the fiscal fraud accusations launched at him on Monday and on Tuesday by the Madrid-based and Spanish nationalist newspaper are false. For this reason, Trias is now demanding the resignation of the Spanish Home Affair Minister, from the Catalan branch of the People's Party (PP), for "leaking" information, which proved to be false, and for "pressuring" media to publish it. According to Trias, "several journalists" told him that the Spanish Ministry called them and asked them to publish that the Mayor of Barcelona had €12.9 million in Switzerland, insisting that the information was true.

"It is an attack against the Mayor of Barcelona", stated Trias. In the last few months, Trias has been backing Catalonia's independence from Spain and he has supported the Barcelona City Council in approving motions in favour of Catalonia's right to self-determination and the original consultation vote that was to take place on the 9^th of November. Two years ago, 'El Mundo' published another false information about the Catalan President and CiU's main candidate for reelection, Artur Mas, just 10 days before the election day, accusing him of having hidden money in Switzerland.

Some journalist are speculating that somebody else called Xavier Trias had such a bank account, since Trias is quite a common surname in Catalonia. However in Spain people have two surnames and the Mayor of Barcelona's second one is Vidal de Llobatera. 'El Mundo' did not say what the second surname of the bank account holder was. However, according to journalist sources, the Spanish Home Affair Ministry insisted it was the Mayor of Barcelona and not somebody else. On top of this, in the last few months, 'El Mundo' has published many scoops accusing the governing People's Party of corruption and some journalist say this episode could be some sort of revenge against the newspaper by pushing them to publish fake information and launching false accusations. In any case, UBS explicitly confirmed that Xavier Trias Vidal de Llobatera has never had and does not have a bank account with them.