Text original publicat per No es época para tontos.
A collapsed finance company, hundreds of creditors and a police complaint mentioning a senior judge. Andorra Justice Watch investigates the questions left unanswered.
In 2011, Info-Cobro, a finance company run by judicial-auction operator Jordi Cuxart in Palafrugell, entered insolvency proceedings. Contemporary reports described almost 400 creditors, returns offered of up to 45% annually and liabilities estimated at €85 million.
The case was more than an extraordinary financial failure. Historical reporting also described alleged connections between Cuxart and influential political figures. Most controversially, it reported a complaint naming Fernando Lacaba, then president of Girona’s Provincial Court.
The money trail
An account published in January 2013 described payments of €101,000 involving Catalan minister Felip Puig and mortgage loans of nearly €900,000 involving his brother Oriol Puig. The brothers said the transactions were legitimate real-estate dealings declared to tax authorities.
The source also described disputed assets involving motorcycle manufacturer OSSA, Diagonal Nature and the Petromiralles group. Insolvency administrators questioned whether money recorded in the accounts was recoverable. Subsequent reporting said Girona’s Commercial Court declared Info-Cobro’s insolvency culpable and assigned Cuxart substantial financial liability.
The unresolved journalistic question is not simply how the company failed. It is how assets, loans and claims were handled while creditors tried to recover their money.
A complaint mentioning the court president
On January 26, 2013, Nord-est Llibertari summarized earlier investigations published by El Triangle and other newspapers. It reported that a private complainant had approached the Guardia Civil’s Economic Crimes Unit in Girona on November 11, 2011.
According to that article, the complaint alleged financial ties between Cuxart and Lacaba, including purported transfers to the magistrate and members of his family. It also contained allegations concerning police officers.
These were accusations reported by journalists, not proven findings against Lacaba. We have not obtained the original police complaint, its supporting financial records or an official ruling establishing what became of those allegations.
But the questions are legitimate and serious. Were the transfers checked? Were inquiries opened? Was the complaint dismissed, and on what grounds? Were potential conflicts of interest examined?
Judicial independence cannot be measured only by the declarations institutions make. It also depends on whether serious accusations can be examined fairly, transparently and without presuming guilt.
The Andorra connection
In 2017, Lacaba was reportedly among the candidates for a seat on Andorra’s Superior Court of Justice. He was not appointed.
That candidacy establishes no misconduct. It does, however, raise a wider public-interest question about cross-border judicial appointments: what due-diligence procedures exist, and how can citizens scrutinize them?
Andorra Justice Watch intends to examine judicial careers, appointments and professional links between Girona and Andorra. Shared professional backgrounds are not evidence of a criminal network.
The producer’s testimony
Andorran journalist and filmmaker Josep Guirao, producer of this investigation, says he experienced detentions he considers unlawful and criminal proceedings in different Spanish cities. He also states that Fernando Lacaba attended one of his court hearings in Seville.
Those claims require procedural records to clarify the circumstances and Lacaba’s role. Guirao’s personal experience explains his commitment to the inquiry; it does not establish wrongdoing by anyone else.
The missing archive
Two editions of El Triangle are central to the inquiry: December 21, 2012 and January 25, 2013. The public online archive consulted for this project begins in 2016. A recovered secondary account describes the articles, but the original pages have not yet been secured.
There is no basis to claim that their absence proves censorship. Obtaining them, alongside court decisions, police records and responses from the people named, is the next step.
This is a preliminary investigation, not a verdict. The financial collapse was real; claims implicating judicial figures must be independently verified.
Andorra Justice Watch will continue following the documents from Girona to Andorra. The point is not to manufacture guilt. It is to establish what happened, what was investigated and what remains unanswered.
Andorra Justice Watch — Anti-Corruption Department | Preliminary Investigation 001
