Police: PSC paid to have Catalan conservative chief spied upon

The National Police Corps has concluded in a report that the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) paid 1,750 euros to the private detective agency Método 3 for a recording of a lunch meeting between regional Popular Party leader Alicia Sánchez-Camacho Victoria Álvarez, the former girlfriend of Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, a scion of one of Catalonia’s foremost political clans.

At the lunch meeting, Álvarez is said to have discussed the money-laundering operations of Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, a son of the long-serving regional leader Jordi Pujol, who held office from 1980 to 2003.

The Socialist hierarchy has insisted over the past few weeks that it is not involved in any way with covert surveillance and has placed itself at the disposition of the courts. PSC leader Pere Navarro refused a month ago to appear in the regional assembly to give explanations over the provisional charges laid against Lluïsa Bruguer, the bloc’s financial administrator. Bruguer’s computer was seized by police and correspondence with Método 3 recovered.

The Catalan PP has opted for prudence: “If it is confirmed,” said vice secretary Dolores Montserrat. “It is intolerable in a democracy and apologies will not suffice. The PSC cannot bury its head in the sand after its administrator has been targeted by the investigation and considering the supposed involvement of a former leader of the group,” she added in reference to José Zaragoza.

Ordered in advance

In the agenda of a Método 3 detective, Elisenda Villena, under the heading “summary of jobs” is a paragraph detailing the operation, its costs and the file number 20,178, which is the reference number the agency held for Zaragoza. The deputy admitted in February that the PSC used Método 3, and the figures from Villena’s notes match the cost of the espionage against Sánchez-Camacho, for which the PSC was billed. Police therefore suspect that the PSC ordered the sting, rather than merely being offered its fruits after the event.

An email from July 3 also refers to the account number as 20,718 PSC-Camacho, says the police report. José Luis Marco, director of Método 3, maintains that the espionage was ordered by “people close to Camacho,” and was carried out legally “and with the knowledge of one of the people present at the lunch.”

Marco also questions the invoice. “To bill an alleged illegal recording at 1,750 euros shows, at the very least, a complete lack of understanding of the private investigative market.”