• Courts The court investigates Colau for granting 80 million in arbitrary subsidies to related entities in two years

The mayor of Barcelona keeps her appointment before the judge on March 4.

The Barcelona Investigating Court number 21 rejected the appeal filed by Ada Colau's lawyers to prevent her from going to testify as a defendant after the complaint from the Association for Transparency and Democratic Quality.

In this way, the mayor must give explanations about the supposedly "arbitrary and discretionary, without public competition" concession of aid and subsidies to entities such as DESC Observatory, the Platform of People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), the Alliance against Energy Poverty ( APE).

Despite the fact that the day after his accusation was known, Colau assured that he would collaborate with the court by providing all the required documentation and that he would go to testify "very calmly" since "I have nothing to hide", a few weeks ago his lawyers filed an appeal to ask for the file and not have to.

The appeal assured that the complaint filed and admitted for processing was "disorderly", "without rigor of any kind" and "lacking chronological and systematic order", in addition to recalling that the Prosecutor's Office had already filed a previous complaint for similar facts and that the adjudications received the "approval" of the municipal intervention.

However, the court has been forceful and has rejected the appeal, so he keeps the appointment with Colau for March 4.

In an order, to which this medium has had access, the magistrate recalls that the doctrine of the Supreme Court indicates that the decision to admit a complaint should not be appealed, since no investigation was carried out, and that the appeal of the mayor is an "exculpatory statement", which corresponds to make during his statement.

He points out that "the only thing that the admission order does is to start an investigation when the judge understands that there are facts that circumstantially present the characteristics of a crime, not implying anything else."

The court reminds Colau's lawyers that the file of the Prosecutor's Office does not mean that there is no possible crime and that is why the decree of the Public Ministry allows complainants to initiate actions before "the judicial body" if they consider it appropriate.

to finger

The court is investigating whether there is any evidence 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 carried out by the Barcelona government team to entities such as DESC Observatory, Engineers Without Borders, Platform of People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) or the Alliance against Energy Poverty, among others.

The complaint highlights that Colau and other municipal positions of 'commons' have maintained "personal and professional ties" prior to assuming their responsibility in the Consistory, which allegedly allowed "the repeated granting of subsidies."

The lawsuit amounts to 80 million euros the amount diverted to these entities.

In addition to summoning to declare Colau as investigated, the court requested "the files of all the agreements signed by the organizations listed in the complaint for obtaining or granting subsidies in the period 2014-2021" and to the Prosecutor's Office the investigation that she filed six months ago for alleged irregularities in subsidies to these entities, to which the mayor referred.

In July, the Public Ministry filed the investigation that opened the mayor of Barcelona and the deputies of Congress and former councilors Jaume Asens and Gerardo Pisarello, for subsidizing entities with which they collaborated with before taking the leap with 3.4 million euros. to politics.

He found no evidence of crime in the subsidies granted by the Barcelona City Council to these related entities.

In two weeks,

crowdfunding

The Association for Transparency and Democratic Quality announced that they will do a crowdfunding to cover the bail and the expenses of the lawyer and solicitor in this procedure.

They remember that he has never had financial ties with companies and that his limited resources come from the few partners they have.

In addition, they lament "the capacity for pressure that the environment of the defendant party has shown" since they intend to "focus on a small group of civil society whose reason for being is to defend the democracy that we have given ourselves among all , of the abuse of those in power. Let justice speak."

In addition, given the City Council's accusations that an important company could be behind the entity, they recall that it is not "a secret society, but a private association of modest size, whose Board of Directors has the legal obligation contained in the Data Protection Law to protect the privacy of its members and the right to privacy guaranteed by our Constitution".

In this sense, they consider that members of their board have suffered "ad-nominate attacks and defamation" after learning that they filed the complaint and that it is a way of "diverting attention" to the accusations against the mayor.


Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

  • Barcelona

  • Ada Colau

  • supreme court

  • Justice

SocietyAda Colau urges the Generalitat to avoid the sacrifice of 38 dog puppies after a pharmacological study

Controversy Goodbye to the Hermitage Museum, a lost decade in Barcelona

Courts A commercial court keeps the assets seized from CDC for the 'Palau case' to pay creditors

See links of interest

  • Last News

  • Work calendar 2022

  • Home THE WORLD today

  • How to do

  • Atletico Madrid - Raise

  • Salzburg - Bayern, live

  • Inter - Liverpool, live