Reiteration of subsidies, lack of control or forgiven loans: Judicial siege of Colau for irregularities in aid to related entities

• Courts The Prosecutor's Office appreciated "irregularities" in Colau's subsidies to related entities

• Courts Ada Colau denies that she ordered to give more public money to entities related to her political formation

The Barcelona Investigating Court number 21 continues with the investigation into the alleged favor treatment of the mayor of Barcelona,

, to entities related to the 'commons' since she came to office.

For this reason, she has summoned the

of the Barcelona City Council to testify as a witness at the end of April after the Association for Transparency and Democratic Quality requested it, which is as a popular accusation in this procedure.

In its petition, this entity considers that, in his statement as an investigator, Colau "left a series of

" by not wanting to respond to the lawyers of this accusation and therefore demands various proceedings, such as the statement of the intervener, now agreed by the court.

The association's lawyers maintain that this testimonial will "shed light on the alleged irregularity of the subsidies that were denounced" since the municipal official "has issued relevant reports" on the processing of these aids and subsidies.

Thus, they highlight that there are reports from 2016 in which there are legal warnings related to the processing of these public money awards such as: "The high percentage of subsidy (80%) that is requested for human resources";

that "100% of the subsidy goes to external companies and the similar object to municipal services" or that "the exceptional nature is not justified" as it is a subsidy repeated years before.

In this sense, the Controller considered that "in view of the recurrent and constant nature of the public interest file and the imposition of public competition, its direct concession should be based" on another section of the General Subsidy Law and "therefore it should appear nominatively in the budgets".

In the report provided to the court of the subsidies granted in 2018 by the Barcelona City Council, the Intervention continues to appreciate "the same defects" two years later as aid "repeated over time for the same projects with a high percentage of expenses of the activity subsidized in personnel" for what the prosecution considers to be "a possible contractual relationship rather than an activity of the subsidy".

Without justifying the exceptionality

It also highlights that "subsidies are given above the percentage of subcontracting allowed" in the General Subsidy Law and "it is verified that there is a high number of direct acquisitions of real estate" through an "exceptional system" of the patrimony regulation of local entities.

The accusation highlights that in another report of December 2018 on aid to

related to housing, it is indicated that "taking into account that the beneficiary entity is a contractor of the City Council, it was necessary to verify that the subsidy granted is not intended to finance resources contributed by the entity to execute the contracts it has formalized".

In addition, it is also highlighted that "the exceptional character is not justified either, as it is recurring. In any case, the budgets of the corporation would have to appear in nominal form", referring to the Barcelona City Council and details that the "mandatory" report does not appear in the file: "The subsidy is granted in favor of Desc in its entirety, although in the agreement proposal and in the agreement we identify as beneficiaries

,

(PAH) or

a. The agreement does not establish the amount that is granted to each of the entities".

The Association for Transparency and Democratic Quality also points to other municipal files presented to the court in which there are lists of "beneficiaries of a single subsidy during the years 2016 to 2019" and another of "beneficiaries of more than one subsidy" at that time : "In relation to the beneficiaries of more than one grant during the years 2016 to 2019, a repetition of grants awarded for the same object has been detected, that is, the same project has been repeatedly subsidized for more than one year".

The budget amount is a general total of 46,993,192 euros.

Also here, the Intervention ensures that "these grants have been awarded during different years since 2016 to subsidize the same project, so the exceptional nature is not justified" or that "a series of files have been registered as unnamed direct grants that, in response to its object should not be processed" with a budget amount of more than 22 million euros in the 2017 financial year and 14 million in 2018 while "direct unnamed subsidies, financial years 2016 to 2019, with a general total of 57,620,667 euros".

pay for the same project

The accusation details that in the report on public aid granted three years ago, the

"has not established a strategic plan for subsidies for the 2019 financial year, which generates a lack of coordination between the different municipal agencies and bodies and "there is no centralized system that facilitates the fulfillment of the obligations of the management bodies to ensure contracting under equal conditions".

"In some cases, the loans have been forgiven with the consequent risk of over-financing," says the report, which focuses on the "subsidies repeated over time for the same projects", most of which are intended for personnel, so "it seems more like financing of structures than of concrete projects".

In addition, the mandatory legal report on the multi-year agreements between the Consistory and related entities is still missing.

Finally, a December 2020 file issued by the Social Rights, Global Justice, Feminism and LGTBI area of ​​the Consistory is investigated on which the Intervention recommends "applying the public competition procedure" of the subsidy law for "the recurring concession of the direct subsidy in recent years to the same projects".

In addition, it warns that "taking into account that the benefits of the project to be developed and the personnel expenses account for 88.1% of the total cost of the project, it could have a contractual nature" and that benefits classified as "other expenses" are not specified and "represent 1% of the total cost of the project".

no crime

In its report on a previous complaint Catalan Lawyers for the Constitution a year ago, the Prosecutor's Office considered that there was no crime in the processing of these aids and subsidies by the Barcelona City Council.

"With prevarication ruled out as the fundamental axis of the criminal network attributed to those reported, the possibility of any fraud, embezzlement, influence peddling or criminal organization related to the facts under investigation disappears."

In her statement before the judge, the mayor recalled that she delegates responsibility for the processing of the concession, although she is present when the vote is taken and that there were several reports from Intervention and from the general secretary of the City Council that endorsed these awards since in no case irregularities were found.

These aids are given through a contest or directly, which must be exceptional and of public interest, and that these also include those given to entities, such as Cáritas, that offer a specific and permanent service.

That is why he admitted that in 2020 the Municipal Intervention recommended that these subsidies to these specific entities that have been doing a social task for years should be included in the annual budgets to avoid exceptionality.

In addition, Colau stressed that she did not initiate the delivery of money to these related entities, although both she and other councilors were linked to work.

For this reason, the prosecutor pointed to this possible irregularity and the mayor hid behind the fact that the general secretary of the City Council replied that she acted correctly by not abstaining since she did not have a "personal interest".

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