the judge of Vilanova i la Geltrú that investigates the case for alleged corruption in sitges He has detected rigs in the contracting of association services Taula of the Third Social Sector of Sitges-Garraf and the cooperative Llocs Espais i indrets 1918 SCCL (LLEI 1918) by the City Council, according to a court order to which EL PERIÓDICO has had access. The magistrate maintains that the investigation carried out by the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the National Police has found divisions in the amounts of the contracts, adjusting them to the limit that allows them to be awarded by finger and disregarding the principles of publicity and free competition .
These services, adds the judicial decision, were granted “always” to the same professionals and one of the entities, the aforementioned Taula of the Third Social Sector of Sitges-Garraf chaired by the main person investigated, Carlos NM, contributed false documentation that it does not correspond to the purpose of the subsidies, “having been accepted by those responsible for the managing bodies and by the Sitges City Council itself,” he writes in the order. For the judge, the investigations carried out so far (the investigation began in May 2022) have found evidence of the alleged commission of the crimes of prevarication and embezzlement of public funds and there could also be documentary forgery. The police detained on Wednesday the mayoress of the Sitges City Council, Aurora Carbonell, who refused to testify and was released.
two connected entities
Both the Taula del Tercer Sector Social de Sitges-Garraf association and the LLEI 1918 cooperative are managed by members of the family of Carlos NM, a resident of Sitges. Specifically by Carlos himself, by his partner, María MP and by his two children. The first entity was established in 2013 and the cooperative in December 2019. The police have verified that the two entities are closely linked economically and that the services provided by the cooperative were paid into the association’s account: thus becoming the latter “a service provider for the City Council since, even, before its constitution,” the magistrate recounted.
Investigators have also uncovered alleged irregularities in the justifications for the grants. The entity delivered to the City Council documentation on unspecified purchases in the car of objects that had been delivered to the private homes of those involved and also presented some invoices for household appliance repairs or purchases of household products. One of the children of the marriage allegedly received donations in the form of “food, hygiene and to emancipate” for his volunteer work, but at the same time, he had been hired by his father’s association. Another indication derives from the acquisition by the cooperative of a vehicle, Dacia Duster, which a few months later was transferred to the couple’s daughter.
finger contracts
The judge records that the grants granted by the Sitges City Council were through the procedure of direct grant. And that during the period investigated, between 2017 and 2021, the consistory, in parallel, also granted numerous minor contracts (by hand) in favor of the entities involved in the plot that in reality should have been obtained by them or by others from a public tender. The award, the magistrate specifies, occurred “continuously” and “without proper authorization” or if there was one, it was “merely concise” and “lacking the minimum argument to appreciate” the need for it.
These contracts, insists the togada, “have gone to favor the same entities and providers” and were made below the legal limit (15,000 euros), dividing up the services. The objective, she points out, was to avoid the public tender, where other bidders could have participated.
The investigation by the National Police, initiated after the notice of a municipal auditor who worked in the City Council until 2022, has highlighted that those responsible for the two entities, allegedly, presented invoices for work prior to the formalization of the contracts. The UDEF agents maintain that during the years 2017 to 2021 there are “multiple contracts” that were awarded without any legal report from the municipal secretary, a formality that is mandatory under current legislation.
Carlos NM and his partner are the main ones investigated and also the only two people of the eleven arrested this Wednesday who have slept in police stations. It is expected that this Friday they will be made available to the judge. The rest of those investigated will do so in the coming days.
notice of intervention
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On the other hand, a controller of the Sitges City Council warned in an audit report, to which this newspaper has had access, of a possible division during four years of contracts to the Taula del Tercer Sector de Sitges association, which between 2018 and 2021 received close to of 330,000 euros for gardening and beach cleaning. This document was presented in a municipal plenary session in April 2022.
The opinion warns that in the four years there was a possible division of the contracts awarded to the cooperative, which charged 45,000 a year by virtue of an agreement signed with the City Council, and, on the other hand, between 20,000 and 40,000 for different tasks of maintenance of gardens or cleaning of beaches and of the sinks installed in them. Due to the amount of the contracts and because they are “recurring benefits”, the auditor considers that these services should have been the subject of a bidding process through an open procedure.