The Antifraud Office of Catalonia (OAC) has put the Mataró City Council at the center, not only because of the complaint filed by an interim architect with reference to the excess of hiring “by the exceptional route” or, which is the same, that said, but also for having terminated it despite having the status of “protected reporting person” by resolution of the same director of the office that investigates the alleged irregularities.
The interim promoted an investigation procedure at the OAC when it detected, by the head down, nine appointments and hiring of architects in 2021 by the “exceptional route”. Three of these professionals and a managerial position were hired to make the Urban Atlas, without the places being made public.
The complaint refers to the personnel selection process under the pretext of urgency, in which the circumstances are not substantiated, with people who were not intended for the purpose of the recruitment. In addition, one of these people had to do tasks that already belonged to a female employee, so that caused the emptying of her functions. This fact would lead to “embezzlement of public funds”, since the alleged motivation was to hire a person “evading the principles of equality, merit and ability”.
Since 2015, the temporary employee has denounced, through various lawsuits that did not succeed, the dozen of irregular hirings, including that of the human resources director himself, with a position that has not been filled for more than five years competition
Shortly after the Antifraud Office notified the Mataró City Council of the investigation procedure and began to request information on the subject, the complainant was terminated by decree of the deputy councilor for Public Security, Mobility, Health and Human Resources. A situation that the OAC considers irregular, since it has been granted the status of a protected whistleblower through a resolution of the director of the Antifraud Office. For this reason, they urge the City Council to “preventatively suspend the appointment of the person proposed to fill the position of architect” invited to the new selection process.
What was initially “a simple labor dispute”, according to City Council sources consulted, now has judicial characteristics due to the initiation of a disciplinary proceeding by the OAC for various administrative infractions. Faced with the situation, the municipal government of Mataró, formed by a majority of the PSC in coalition with two councilors from En Comú Podem, has promoted a special information commission to deal with issues arising from Antifraud. Along these lines, he has also asked the secretary to carry out an analysis of the documentation to safeguard the rights of the protected person and open a period of information or prior actions on the administrative procedure in relation to three appointments to write the Urban Atlas and the provision of a managerial position.
