• Courts Ada Colau refuses to resign due to her accusation and assures that there is "no irregularity" in the granting of aid

The Barcelona Investigating Court number 21 investigates alleged irregularities in the granting of 80 million euros in subsidies by the Barcelona City Council between 2019 and 2020. This is stated in the complaint of the Association for Transparency and Democratic Quality that has been admitted for processing by the judge and for which Mayor

Ada Colau

must appear as an investigator

at the beginning of March.

Specifically, the complainants point out that the Consistory granted this aid allegedly in an "arbitrary and discretionary manner, they are public competition", repeatedly and without accrediting the public interest in order to finance entities such as DESC Observatory, the Platform of People Affected by the Mortgage ( PAH), the Alliance against Energy Poverty (APE).

Precisely, the complaint highlights that Colau, and members of the municipal government team of 'comunes', have maintained "personal and professional ties" prior to occupying the positions that have allowed "the repeated granting of subsidies." In addition, they indicate that studies and projects have also been paid for, some by organizations jointly and others separately, and many for similar purposes. The court investigates whether there is any indication of a crime in the approval of agreements, granting of direct subsidies or the signing of minor contracts to carry out studies or provide services.

The complainants point out that thanks to this aid, "the organizational structure and salaries" of these associations are maintained. In addition, they emphasize that "one of the common denominators" of these entities is the "alleged defense of rights and the remunicipalization of services" and that they also received aid from other institutions such as the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, which Colau also chairs. In this sense, most of the aid that the complaint calls into question are related to remunicipalization.

The complaint points out that there are alleged irregularities in the processing for the granting of these aids, since they were given an extraordinary character to avoid "controls typical of an open tender." Despite this, some of the items are similar to those analyzed by the Prosecutor's Office six months ago in a complaint from the entity Catalan Lawyers for the Constitution that was archived. The Public Ministry pointed out that there was no crime after analyzing the administrative processes for granting these grants and agreements, most of which have been renewed for years.

In this way, the complaint, to which this medium has had access, indicates that "aid has been granted directly by a manifestly incompetent body, without there being control over the conditions of compliance, nor the purpose and accreditation of the same", as well nor does the justification of the destination of the money appear.

It also considers that these aids have been granted "knowing their injustice to favor certain entities to the detriment of others."

That is why they believe that the crimes of prevarication, embezzlement of public funds and influence peddling, among others, were committed.

political intent

On the other hand, the Barcelona City Council attacked the Association for Transparency and Democratic Quality for its lawsuit against Colau. "We are here to denounce the clear political intent and the abuse of rights by the plaintiffs who have hidden, in their complaint, the Prosecutor's investigation" which concluded that there was no evidence of a crime, said Councilor for Rights, Marc Serra. He considers that the complaint is only directed against the mayor and not against other councilors or former councilors since "it points to a clear political intention to persecute the mayor with the aim of attacking her image."

Colau's lawyer, Àlex Solà, insisted that the complaint aims to "get the declaration of the mayor under investigation" and stresses that there is "procedural bad faith" on the part of the complainants, who have committed a "kind of fraud" by hiding in The file of the Prosecutor's Office denounces her, which the court has now collected.

Colau plans to go to testify as investigated to explain all the irregularities.

The lawyer pointed out that the complaint contains fragments of the complaint filed by the Prosecutor's Office presented by Catalan Lawyers for the Constitution and refers to the same agreements and files, "without providing new evidence or anything incriminating."

In addition, Marc Serra said that the complaint "denotes the lack of knowledge" of the powers of the Barcelona City Council and Catalan legislation on international cooperation and social care of the complainants.

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  • Ada Colau

  • Barcelona

  • Catalonia

CourtsAda Colau refuses to resign due to her accusation and assures that there is "no irregularity" in the granting of aid

CourtsA court investigates Ada Colau for granting subsidies to entities related to the 'commons'

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