ERC entrusted the pact for the Sitges Mayor's Office to one of the detainees in the case of subsidies

10 days ago, when they were negotiating to remove JxCAT from Sitges, no one imagined that the UDEF was going to enter the town hall to arrest the mayoress, Aurora Carbonell, for prevarication, embezzlement and document falsification for alleged irregularities in the award of subsidies and minor contracts between 2017 and 2022. Because last week, another of those arrested, Carles Nicolàs, was commissioned to put together a pact with the local party Fets per Sitges. And it so happens that Nicolás was the president of the Sitges-Garraf Third Sector Board, the entity that received the funds under suspicion.

Investigation sources calculate that there has been damage of more than 600,000 euros of public funds between direct subsidies and split contracts to companies and organizations. Carbonell already tried to back down. In the last plenary session of the last legislature, it was approved to return a subsidy. But it won't be enough.

ERC lost the elections. JxCAT was the force with the most votes and had an agreement with the PSC to govern Sitges, the most fragmented municipality in Catalonia, with nine municipal groups. Junts only needed one councilor. So Fets per Sitges was key. But it was no longer possible to contact him if it was not through Carles Nicolás. He focused on isolating Ignasi Rubí, the only mayor of Fets per Sitges, so that he would remain in the great coalition that ousted JxCAT. Rubí is not involved in the alleged case of corruption, but he was key to forging the pact by which the Republicans obtained the mayoralty.

In principle, there was a plenary session scheduled for this Thursday. But you don't know what can happen. Nor what will the commons do, with two councilors and that now, without eating or drinking it, they have been trapped in a corruption case.

The former comptroller of Sitges had long questioned the deliveries of some subsidies. The case ended up in the Investigating Court number 8 of Vilanova i la Geltrú, which has been investigating since May 2022 alleged crimes of prevarication, embezzlement and document falsification in the consistory. This court entrusted the investigation to the National Police and that is why the case has ended up in the hands of the UDEF.

detained councilor

Among the detainees, there is also the current councilor Jaume Monasterio Miró, also from ERC, who was head of Sports during the last legislature. The secretary of the consistory, Òscar Buxeras, a beach technician and another retired official who had been director of the Territory Area in previous terms, as well as some people who received the subsidies, including Carles Nicolás, have also been arrested.. According to the city council itself, Carbonell has been transferred to the Verneda police station in Barcelona. The one in Sitges has been one more municipal pact, but none in Catalonia has been so evident.

❗️Esquerra Republicana, about the operation of the Spanish police at Sitges City Hall pic.twitter.com/aa3VKPYxoe

— Esquerra Republicana (@Esquerra_ERC) June 21, 2023

Carbonell has not yet formed a government. has only taken possession. But there is no operational municipal folder. Sitges lacks a municipal government. Although the UDEF has tried not to interfere in the political situation —it has waited for the new municipal plenary session to be constituted—, in the end it will have political consequences.

possible irregularities

The Sitges City Council acknowledges in a statement “possible irregularities” that it describes as “external”, but points out that they had already been investigated internally, the subsidies had been stopped and the process for their return had begun. “The city council, once possible external irregularities were detected, commissioned legal professionals to clarify the facts, stopped the subsidies, review the files and start the process for the return of the subsidies that were not fully justified,” the note states..

In the same statement, they also ensure that they have reports that show “the absence of administrative and even less criminal responsibilities, and that demonstrate the diligence of the Sitges City Council”.

ERC in Sitges has also published a letter along the same lines. “The mayoress and the Sitges City Council have already informed the legal teams of the facts under investigation when detecting alleged irregularities” that stopped the subsidies and claimed the unjustified subsidies. The Republicans add that they are “collecting all the necessary information to make it available to the corresponding ethical channels”. They do not explain how the funds can be recovered if the largest receiving entity, the Table of the Third Sector of Sitges, has already disappeared.