Pujol seeks refuge in Queralbs

The former regional premier of Catalonia, Jordi Pujol, has decided to seek refuge in the Catalan Pyrenees, after confessing last week that he had amassed a hidden fortune overseas during a period of 34 years. The former politician is currently in Queralbs (Girona), in a vacation home belonging to the family of his wife, Marta Ferrusola. Pujol arrived at the house – known as Can Ferrusola – on Wednesday night, and this morning left the property to have a coffee in the village.

The Pujol family has done its best to disappear from the public eye since, on July 25, Pujol made his extraordinary confession. The former regional premier has not set foot in recent days in the Barcelona family home in Premià de Dalt, a fact betrayed by the accumulation of uncollected mail in the letterbox.

Pujol announced that the funds accumulated abroad by his wife, Marta Ferrusola, and his seven children have only been regularized with the Tax Office “in recent days,” meaning that they were hidden away for more than 30 years. The money – the exact amount of which has not been specified – is reported to have come from an inheritance left by his father, the businessman Florenci Pujol.

The current regional premier, Artur Mas, appeared before the press on July 30 to announce that Pujol was renouncing all of his honorary titles in the CiU coalition, as well as the privileges he enjoyed as an ex-premier, including the right to be addressed as molt honorable (very honorable).