Audit Office points to new irregularities in management of Circuit de Catalunya

The Audit Office has denounced new irregularities in the management of the Circuit de Catalunya, which are added to those already denounced last year by the General Comptroller's Office. Both institutions agree on some points, but the Audit Office goes further.

This auditing body of the public sector denounces, for instance, the fact that the Generalitat is the only shareholder that year after year covers the losses generated by the facility. The other two partners of the Circuit, RACC and Montmeló Town Council, "continuously failed to comply with the contribution regime", which was previously agreed. This has meant that the Generalitat has had to take charge of more "capital contributions", according to the report, advanced by El País.

In 2018, for example, the Circuit was forced to increase capital by €4.5m, but RACC and Montmeló Council of Montmeló "expressly renounced" to participate and the Generalitat took over the entire amount through the public company Avançsa. That same year RACC had 14% of the company's capital and the Town Council a further 7%. At the same time, that year RACC earned a little over €1m from the Circuit thanks to the different services it provides, mainly medical services for the races.

RACC also receives €50,000 from the Circuit (€12,500 per quarter) for "sports advice or management". According to the Audit Office, "this collaboration is not formalised in any document or contract". The only reference it finds is in a 1996 contract that expired in 2001. Everything seems to indicate, according to the report, that the sports director of RACC has continued providing the service and charging for it despite the fact that there is no contract in force.

The report, which only analyses the 2018 financial year, also collects a long list of irregularities. For example:

• The advertising contracts with RACC, Repsol and La Caixa explicitly excluded days on which Grand Prix were held. Even so, the Circuit kept this advertising up during the celebration of the Moto GP championship (and in the case of the RACC, also during the Formula 1) "without any additional charge".
• There was also institutional advertising of the city councils of Barcelona and Montmeló, the Diputació de Barcelona, the Catalan Tourism Agency and the RACC "without any contract, nor generating any income".
• Space was given to certain "telecommunications and telephone companies" and the exclusivity of beverage and food brands was given without a competition that complied with the principles of publicity and competition.
• The company Circuits de Catalunya, SL does not have any list of jobs listing staffing needs, defining each job's tasks and establishing the remuneration and allowances that correspond to each one.

In view of all this, the Audit Office makes some recommendations to the management team of the Circuit, which is currently chaired by Catalan Business Minister Ramon Tremosa, after the hasty departure of Maria Teixidor due to disagreements with the Board of Directors.

Among these suggestions, the Audit Office proposes finding "sufficient resources" to meet the budgeted expenditure, since year after year the income is far below the expenses. "It is absolutely necessary to elaborate a realistic viability plan to evaluate the continuity of the activity" of the Circuit, the report goes so far as to say.