The mayoress of Sitges, Aurora Carbonell, from ERC, has been arrested by the UDEF in an anti-corruption operation. The arrest was made this afternoon at the town hall of the coastal city. The ERC councilor Jaume Monasterio has also been arrested, as well as the secretary of the consistory, a beach technician and the head of the Àrea de Territori in previous mandates.
The operation is directed by the investigating court 8 of Vilanova i la Geltrú, which is investigating municipal officials of the current consistory for the alleged crimes of prevarication, embezzlement and document falsification in the award of subsidies and minor contracts in the past two terms. It is being investigated whether the council diverted money through subsidies and minor contracts to a cooperative called Taula del Tercer Sector de Sitges-Garraf between 2017 and 2022. The total fraud would be around 600,000 euros, according to the journalist Anna Punsí.
Since May 2022, the UDEF has been investigating the granting of annual subsidies to this entity, which receives around 45,000 euros per year and which, at the same time, is the beneficiary of minor contracts, awarded without public competition, for the cleaning or surveillance of beaches or for the maintenance of parks and orchards. The investigation indicates that the entity would be charging twice for the same services. It is suspected that the City Council paid subsidies to hire people at risk of social exclusion and at the same time awarded a smaller contract to the same entity for those same people to work.
In this case, a total of 13 people are being investigated: the mayoress, 8 councilors from the Sitges City Council, the former mayor of the city, Miquel Forns, from CiU, and 4 individuals who were part of the investigated cooperative. The case began with a complaint filed by city council officials led by the detained mayoress who reported the alleged irregularities that had been detected. These proceedings culminated in a report from the UDEF that led to the opening of the judicial investigation and the operation on Wednesday.
“Once the town hall detected possible external irregularities, it commissioned legal professionals to clarify the facts, stopping the subsidies, reviewing the files and starting the process for the return of the subsidies that were not fully justified”, the Sitges town hall explained to through a statement. “The City Council has reports that ensure the absence of administrative and even less criminal responsibilities, which demonstrate the diligence of the Sitges City Council”, he concluded.
The mayoress was sworn in last Sunday and faces her second term as head of the Sitges City Council thanks to an agreement in extremis between ERC, Sitges Grup independent, Verds-En Comú and Fets per Sitges. With this agreement, she ousted Junts, which had been the most voted force in the municipality.
The investigating court is investigating the mayoress and twelve other people, including eight councilors from the 2017-2022 period, for the crimes of prevarication, embezzlement and document falsification in the award of subsidies and minor contracts in the past two terms. The performance of the City Council regarding the Third Sector Board and a cooperative is investigated.
The Taula del Tercer Sector Social has issued a statement to clarify that it has nothing to do with the entity that is under investigation. “Beyond this coincidence in the name, this organization is not part of our network and we have not maintained any relationship and up to now we have not been aware of its origin and operation.
