Barcelona, Catalonia, Catalan President Salvador Illa defended the PSC in the Catalan Parliament on Wednesday as opposition parties pressed him over corruption allegations linked to PSOE judicial cases. He said corruption is a red line for his party and for himself, and called for respect for the presumption of innocence and the judicial system.

The control session was expected to focus on the budget’s initial processing, but the debate shifted to the corruption claims. Illa did not address the independence movement’s claims of lawfare beyond defending the amnesty law, in line with his usual position.

Junts and the People’s Party were the most vocal in demanding explanations. On 22 April, the Board of Spokespersons rejected a request for an urgent parliamentary appearance by the president. The PSC, with support from ERC and Comuns, voted against the request.

Junts group leader Mònica Sales asked whether Illa was trying to hide anything and pressed him on his recent trip to China and a €127 million contract awarded by the Generalitat’s Centre for Telecommunications and Information Technologies, known as CTTI. The contract went to a temporary business union led by SIRT, which uses Huawei devices to deploy optical fibre in several Generalitat bodies. Sales also raised questions about alleged commissions linked to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the Hard Rock project.

Illa replied that the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, had already given parliamentary explanations about the optical fibre tender, which three companies using Huawei technology bid for. He also said the Catalan Audit Office had all the documentation on the PSC’s last election campaign and that its conclusions were favourable to his party. He accused Junts of acting on rumours and said he had always acted correctly.

The PP also pressed him on his links with Zapatero, José Luis Ábalos and Santos Cerdán, while ERC and Comuns asked for further clarification. Illa also addressed energy poverty concerns after a Constitutional Court ruling overturned parts of Law 24/2015, and said he expected the Energy Poverty Board to respond. The CUP, meanwhile, criticised what it called a double standard over the application of the gag law and a neonazi festival in Santa Susanna, which Illa said was a matter for the local council.

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