The mobile phone of the former Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, was infected with the Pegasus spy program for a year since 2018, without the approval of the Supreme Court. The CNI did not have authorization to spy on him until July 2019, as the Mossos d’Esquadra have concluded after analyzing his phone on behalf of the judge.
Legal sources have reported that the Catalan police have delivered to the head of the Court of Instruction number 29 of Barcelona, Santiago García, a report on the forensic analysis carried out on Aragonès’ cell phonewho in September provided his phone for analysis.
The conclusions of the analysis coincide with those of the computer expert that the former president provided to the court along with the complaint he filed for the attack with Pegasus, which reveals that the former leader of ERC had the mobile phone infected between July 2018 and March 2020, beyond the period in which CNI espionage had judicial coverage.
Possible accusation against Sanz Roldán
The former director of the CNI, Paz Esteban, remains charged in this case, who was dismissed as a result of the scandal over the massive espionage of the independence movement with Pegasus. After appearing in court in January, asked that the case be closedbut the judge ruled it out, arguing that it was necessary to clarify whether all the attacks on Aragonès’ cell phone had judicial endorsement.
In his statement as investigated before the judge, Esteban did not provide any information about the attacks with Pegasus on the former president’s mobile phone, beyond the Supreme Court rulings that supported the use of the software. Furthermore, he excuses himself in that information protected by official secrets could be affected.
According to those records, which the Government sent to the judge with deleted fragments alleging that they contained confidential information, the judge in charge of control of the CNI endorsed the spying on Aragonès’ cell phone from July to October 2019, with two three-month extensions until March 2020, after the secret services alleged that he coordinated the actions of the CDR. Therefore, the infections detected since July 2018 with Pegasus, would be left out of that legal coverageaccording to the same sources.
In July 2018, the director of the CNI was Félix Sanz Roldán, whose accusation has already been put on the table by Andreu Van Den Eynde, Aragonès’ lawyer, and Esteban, who succeeded him in February 2020, was the general secretary of the services. secrets. They would not be legally protected either. the attacks detected on July 4, 5, 6 and 7, 2019when Paz Esteban was already interim director of the CNI. The first order of the Supreme Court that endorses espionage is dated the 24th of that month.
After delivering the report, the investigating judge asked the accusations and the defense, in charge of the State Attorney’s Office, if they want raise new proceedings before completing the investigation of the case, which has been extended until next April, with the favorable criteria of the Prosecutor’s Office.
Spying on CUP deputies
On the other hand, the judge investigating the spying with Pegasus on the mobile phones of the former CUP deputies Albert Botran, Carles Riera and David Fernández, has asked the CNI, the Civil Guard and the National Police to provide all the information that they have on the case. In an order, the head of the Court of Instruction number 32 of Barcelona, José Antonio Cruz, has agreed to issue a European investigation order to the Luxembourg authorities, as requested by the Prosecutor’s Office, to identify the bank accounts in the name of the companies of the NSO group, creator of the software.
The judge’s objective is to know the movements of these bank accounts between the years 2016 and 2022 in order to identify “the possible Spanish payers of the Pegasus spyware.” It has also agreed to send a rogatory commission to Israel so that companies grouped under the name of NSO are required to provide the information, data or computer records that they retain regarding the use of Pegasus on the cell phones of CUP deputies.
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