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

In 2019, the delegated auditor for social services of the Barcelona City Council made several observations on the administrative files related to subsidies to entities related to the mayor Ada Colau's government team, such as including a nominative allocation of those who received this aid in the budgets, since they were repeated over time, their public interest or that the non-possibility of public attendance was justified.

This observation was taken into account and included in the budgets for the following year, which, unlike the previous ones, were not extended.

In addition, the intervenor also warned that since more than 75% of the subsidies were destined for personal means, it should be carried out through a contractual tender, despite the fact that this measure was ruled out by the Social Affairs management of the Consistory.

The official testified as a witness this Tuesday before the Investigating Court 21 of Barcelona that she is investigating Colau for allegedly embezzling public money and prevaricating in the granting of this public aid to related entities such as the Desc Observatory, Engineers Without Borders, Platform of People Affected by the Mortgage (PAH) or Alliance against Energy Poverty.

The official also assured that she found no evidence of crime in the reports made on these subsidies since 2014, since she has the obligation to go to the Prosecutor's Office if she detects them, and that Colau could not directly authorize aid to these entities, since everything was agreed in the government commission.

For this reason, the mayor's lawyers will request the file of the proceedings and explained that the Prosecutor's Office has opposed the request of the private prosecution, exercised by the Association for Transparency and Democratic Quality, for new evidence such as more documentation on these records or make a police report on the concessions.

The Barcelona Investigating Court number 21 is investigating the alleged favorable treatment of the mayor of Barcelona, ​​Ada Colau, to entities related to the 'commons' since she came to office.

The accusation considers that the official issued "relevant reports" on the processing of these aids and assures that there are indications of irregularities 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", as it happens from 2020.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

  • Barcelona

  • Ada Colau