The relationship between politics and business was very fluid during Jordi Pujol’s presidency. Lluís Prenafeta, who died last February, was an example of this. Also the children of the former president – and especially the first-born, Jordi – are living proof of that spontaneous sympathy and attraction between both universes. Likewise, the recently deceased Carles Vilarrubí has been another face of that prolific prism. Pujol’s faithful squire since the beginning of Convergència, in the first elections, he toured Catalonia accompanying the future president of the Generalitat at the wheel of his modest Seat 127. In gratitude and without having turned 30, Vilarrubí landed as general secretary at Catalunya Ràdio to provide a business structure and put order in the station. That was not his only position in Catalan public radio and television, to which he would return to the board of directors. Then he was entrusted with the delicate task of creating the Generalitat lotteries. Already as a man of State structures, he cultivated his love for luxury cars – the old Seat 127 was parked -, a hobby that united him with the first-born son of the president of the Generalitat. After the Majéstic pact (in 1996), Pujol placed him at Telefónica. That was his entrance through the front door into the world of communication. Strengthened the company’s digital TV platform. In 2000, Pasqual Maragall stated in statements to Radio Barcelona: “We in Catalonia do not have Juan Villalonga. [presidente de Telefónica y amigo del presidente José María Aznar]but we have Carles Vilarrubí.” “The Catalan Government has followed a trend that consists of externalizing a certain power to implement it in the private sector. If you are governing, fantastic, because on top of that they accompany you; If you lose, you already have your speaker, your companies and your media,» added the then president of the PSC. Vilarrubí also entered the Godó Group and was in the driving force of RAC 1. He also did not neglect other fields. He was a director of the Trébol Internacional group, owned by Diego Prado and Colón de Carvajal, close to Juan Carlos I. His proximity to the royal family is also reflected in his friendship with Iñaki Urdangarín. However, the great A qualitative leap in the business world came from his marriage to Sol Daurella, president of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP), with an estimated fortune of 2.9 billion euros, according to Forbes 2025. The Rothschilds appointed him vice president for Spain, a position in which he was dismissed, they say, due to his proximity to the process and his defense of the independence referendum. But Vilarrubí did not burn all the ships: he continued as a senior. advisor. He was also vice president of Barça, a position he left due to the lukewarmness of the club’s board on October 1, 2017. He died before the Pujols’ macro trial. Vilarrubí was accused of money laundering and falsification of commercial documents. He was asked for five years in prison.
