“I will not resign, it is the Minister [for Home Affairs] who should
do so”, stated the Director of Catalonia's Anti-fraud Office, Daniel de
Alfonso Laso, in a radio interview this Tuesday, after the scandal was
made public.
The recording suggests that both Fernández Díaz and Alfonso de Laso
were allegedly trying to find suspicious dealings, business or family
connections to discredit members of ERC and CDC. “Don’t do it yourself;
selling it to the press and always naming the Spanish Police’s division
for Economic and Fiscal crimes (UDEF) you will lose favour”, suggested
Alfonso de Laso to current Spanish Minister for Home Affairs on the
recording, “give the information to me instead”.
Some parts of the conversation also reveal how de Laso considered
some information to be “too soft” and Fernández Díaz suggested going
further so as to involve former Catalan Ministers, Convergència’s Felip
Puig and Francesc Homs. Other pieces of the dialogue point to the
brother of Catalan Vice-President, Oriol Junqueras, who was ERC’s leader
at the time.
Catalan parties react
“We call for [Fernández Díaz’s] resignation and that of the Director
of Catalonia's Anti-fraud Office”, stated Catalan Minister for Justice,
Carles Mundó. “It is unacceptable that such a meeting to plot against
political adversaries took place”.
Catalan Government spokeswoman, Neus Munté, assured that she is
“outraged” by the news and said on Twitter that “urgent explanations”
were needed, as well as “assuming responsibility”.
ERC’s General Secretary, Marta Rovira lamented that the Spanish
Government “constantly plots against parties and democratic guarantees”
and therefore called for Fernández Díaz’s “immediate resignation”. The
ERC candidate for the Spanish Elections said the scandal reminds her of
“The Godfather film” and called for “them not to go to bed as Minister
for Home Affairs or Director of the Anti-fraud Office”.
“The conversation proves the low morality of those who are
unscrupulous”, stated liberal Convergència candidate for the Spanish
Elections, Francesc Homs, who is explicitly named on the recording.
“Reading this transcript is disgusting”, he added.
Alternative left alliance ‘En Comú Podem’ also reacted to the
scandal. One of the party’s candidates for the Spanish Elections, Xavier
Domènech, warned that “pro-independence supporters should bear in mind
that the enemy is PP” which he defined as “a party riffed in
corruption”. “We cannot expect anything other than [Fernández Díaz’s]
resignation and if it doesn’t happen we will have to throw him out on
the 26-J”, he added.
Radical left pro-independence CUP reaffirmed their “implacable
commitment against corruption” and called for the current Spanish
Minister for Home Affairs’ “immediate resignation”.
