Bugging and misconduct

The arrest, on Monday night, of four senior employees of the detective agency that planted listening devices in a Barcelona restaurant, in order to record conversations relating to an alleged corruption network, shows that the Interior Ministry has at last gone to work. The action is a welcome one. But the behavior of political leaders has been surprising, especially that of those most directly responsible: the interior minister, Jorge Fernández, and the regional premier of Catalonia, Artur Mas, both of whom have been oddly slow to act in such a serious case. Serious, both on account of the violation of privacy it involves, and in terms of the credibility of the political class and the rule of law, the central pillar of any democracy.

The espionage affair is linked to that of the police “para-investigations” that burst onto the scene in the final stages of the Catalan electoral campaign last November: the formal complaint finally filed by a former lover of the elder son of onetime premier Jordi Pujol is the connection. On that occasion, the interior minister promised to investigate the planting of listening devices, their legality, and the credibility of the public accusations that emanated from his own ministry. Accusations to which he gave countenance and credit, as did the secretary general of his party, and the deputy prime minister.

In the face of the case of bugging devices planted around Catalan politicians and businessmen (a second case of political espionage following upon the still obscure scandal amidst the Madrid region Popular Party), Fernández sounded the alarms, promised an effective police response and admitted the importance of the matter, adding that he had “a great deal of information.” If there is significant political information, why is it being concealed? If it is legally relevant, why is it not being turned over to the prosecutor’s office?

Artur Mas’s reaction is also disappointing. It seems that the case of the bugging devices interests him only in terms of the involvement, active or passive, of anyone from his own CiU bloc, including regional department heads. And in terms of his own role as a defenseless, innocent victim of Madrid’s resentment on account of his secessionist apostasy. Yet it happens that Mas is the elected official ultimately responsible for the actions of the Mossos d’Escuadra, the always hard-hitting Catalan regional police. He is, then, one of the political figures who owe the public some explanations on the amazing spectacle of these bugging cases in his own territory, rather than demanding explanations from others.

The complaints from the CiU chief (whose headquarters is still under judicial embargo to pay for the ransacking of the Palau de la Música) lack all credibility because the surfacing of corruption scandals — whether conventional or bizarre in nature — reflects ill on his new secessionist creed. It will certainly reflect ill on the party that has most corruption in its ranks, and treats that corruption with most complacency. This may perhaps benefit the other secessionist grouping, the leftist ERC, which enjoys a cleaner image. Is this what the heirs (biological and political) of Jordi Pujol have been working for?