Villa Bugatti's 'ball' splashes the ERC Government

The Investigating Court number 1 of Barcelona finalizes the investigation into the urban "pitch" in Cabrera de Mar (Barcelona), with the requalification of the luxury country house for Villa Bugatti events with the aim of building a special education school, although the Owners of the land, including the former ERC minister and businessman

, reserved "hotel uses".

This is a process derived from the Volhov case that appeared in judicial and police action against the so-called "

staff " for the alleged irregular financing of the Tsunami Democràtic.

Among the judicial proceedings that remain to be carried out is the statement at the beginning of January of a former high-ranking official of the Department of Education of the Generalitat, detained in the

, and who will be asked about the contacts between Vendrell, who was also one of the presumed members of the 'general staff' -the group of pro-independence leaders who led the referendum and the DUI in October 2017-, with ERC representatives in the Government such as the Minister of Education in the previous legislature,

, or the one who then

was director of Public Centers and current Minister of Education

.

Vendrell is being investigated for using his influences with his party mates within the Catalan Executive in the previous legislature to speed up the processing of the urban redevelopment in Cabrera and locate a special education school of the El Brot Foundation, which he also chaired, on those lands.

A Civil Guard report delivered to the court indicates that Vendrell "has influenced certain officials and public officials of the Cabrera de Mar City Council and the Generalitat to achieve the urban reclassification of the Villa Bugatti sector, which is considered not to comply with the regulations and/or current legislation on urban planning”.

The agents stressed that since 2020 Vendrell "tried to get the support of the Department of Education" from conversations with various charges such as Bargalló or Gonzàlez Cambray.

The court plans to take a statement in January from a former high-ranking Education official

, for this alleged plot of embezzlement and influence peddling in which Vendrell is involved.

Judicial sources point out that summoning Bargalló to testify or offering Gonzàlez Cambray the possibility of testifying in this case is not ruled out, since a possible imputation of the minister, being capped, would cause the case to go to the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia, provided it was accepted by these magistrates.

Contreras and Gonzàlez Cambray were among those arrested at the end of 2020 in Volhov.

The Civil Guard points out that the two of them, along with Bargalló, allegedly knew about the irregularities regarding the El Brot foundation, which received aid for serving students with "serious or severe disabilities" and taught classes to schoolchildren with dyslexia, hyperactivity or mild obsessive disorders.

The police report believes that with this type of disorder the school should not be "considered a special education center" and that it would be receiving public money from the special educational agreement "when it would not meet the requirements."

"This fact could therefore constitute a crime of embezzlement," the agents emphasize.

For this reason, the agents point out that Gonzàlez Cambray, Bargalló and Contreras could have knowledge of this "manifest irregularity" since the special education agreement with the center was renewed in May 2020. These Education charges, therefore, could commit a alleged influence peddling.

municipal responsibility

The police report also points to possible irregularities in the urban processing and in the control of the management of Villa Bugatti events by those responsible for the Cabrera City Council, such as allowing more capacity than authorized during the pandemic or carrying out works without a license.

They remember that the Consistory was going to grant a license for El Brot but the Vendrell company was going to stay as the owner of the land.

In his court statement, the mayor of Cabrera de Mar,

, denied having received pressure from Vendrell to speed up any urban planning process and defended its legality.

The Villa Bugatti project, despite the initial approval of the requalification, has been stopped since the judicial investigation broke out.

Specifically, the promoters had permission for residential and hotel uses and they wanted to change to hotel and educational uses to be able to build the school.

The then Councilor for Town Planning,

, also denied any irregularity and justified the 38,000 euros found by the Civil Guard in his office, since before being arrested he had sold a house with machinery for which, in part, he was paid in cash.

The researchers consider that the Consistory approved a specific modification of the Municipal Urban Planning Plan (POUM) of Cabrera de Mar, which allowed the revaluation of the Villa Bugatti estates, increasing their value from 5 to 10 million euros, in an alleged "clear deal of favor" to Vendrell so that the urban processing could be a "flagrant irregularity".

Diversion of funds

to testify,

since he suspects that Vendrell contacted the La Caixa foundation, which is indicted in the proceedings, and with the Vice-President of the Generalitat, when the current president of the Generalitat

, to promote the special education school of the El Brot Foundation on the grounds of Villa Bugatti after being reclassified.

The Civil Guard points out that the La Caixa Foundation, when Giró was in charge, signed an agreement with El Brot to give it between 1 and 2 million euros to carry out the educational center and that this amount would be channeled "through the Generalitat".

Supposedly, these funds received were channeled "through formalized agreements" between the Generalitat and the La Caixa Foundation for "patronage (in the form of donations, donations or contributions)" or with "business collaboration" agreements.

"In the case of the El Brot Foundation, its contributions were decided by the Institutional Department of the Generalitat, which officially does not exist as such. However, based on the information provided by the La Caixa banking foundation, it appears that it was the area of Vice Presidency (VP).This is so because the signatories were on behalf of the Generalitat, in 2017 the Secretary of Economy and in 2018 and 2019 the Secretary General of Vice Presidency, Economy and Finance; on the other hand and on behalf of the Banking Foundation, signed by the Director General", the report highlights.

Through these agreements, between 2017 and 2019 El Brot received 850,000 euros, despite the fact that the foundation presented invoices for 232,000 euros.

However, the investigators point out that 150,000 euros of those justified could have been used for "purposes other than those for which they had been awarded" since they "redounded to the benefit" of companies related to Vendrell and his partners in charge of various urban operations.

Therefore, they conclude that the defendants could use the El Brot Foundation "as an instrument to finance activities" of their companies.

The agents also recall that the La Caixa Foundation decided the beneficiary entities of the funds following "determined" criteria from the Generalitat.

They emphasize that the Catalan administration "maintains a permanent relationship" with the associations requesting and receiving aid and that is why it knows their needs and priorities.

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