Can Parliament suspend Joan Ignasi Elena?

BarcelonaThe award of suspect hand-picked contracts in Altafulla with several politicians under investigation once again puts Parliament in the spotlight. Why? One of the people being investigated in the case is the current ERC deputy and former Minister of the Interior Joan Ignasi Elena, who this Monday testified as an investigated party at the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC). Elena has dissociated himself from any illegal activity in a matter that the defense views as purely administrative. In fact, Elena defends his work and honesty, and denies the accusatory narrative that has led to the investigation. For this reason, he hopes it will be dismissed. However, if the investigation leads to the opening of a trial, as happened with the former President of Parliament Laura Borràs in 2022, it will again put the chamber at the crossroads of suspending a deputy for a case of alleged corruption. What does the regulation say? Has it been changed, as promised?

deputies Josep Maria Jové and Lluís SalvadóJunts defended this reform, but the one that was pushed forward in 2024, which allowed remote voting and protected the case of the exiles, shelved an affair that could lead to Elena's suspension. Article 25.4 of the regulation makes it clear: "In cases where the accusation is for crimes linked to corruption, the Parliament's board, once the order to open a oral trial is final and it is aware of it, must immediately agree to the suspension of parliamentary rights and duties".

This means that this issue is still not on the table at this time because it involves advancing scenarios and the judge may choose not to send the case to trial. But if it were to happen, Elena would be suspended a priori. However, deputies Josep Maria Jové and Lluís Salvadó were sent to trial in November 2022 for a crime of embezzlement related to the Procés case, and the board refused to suspend them because it understood there was political persecution. The difference is that in Borràs's case, ERC rejected the lawfare narrative promoted by Junts, while months later they agreed on the case of Jové and Salvadó. Therefore, the board always has the final say.

What have Elena and Herrera declared?

Elena and Herrera are being investigated in a case in which the former mayor of Altafulla Fèlix Alonso Cantorné (Comuns) is also charged –charged in the Supreme Courtbecause he is a member of Congress– and former councilor of Iniciativa Salvador Milà –investigated in Vendrell in a branch of the case–. At the eye of the hurricane is the alleged prevarication for contractually favoring former politicians from the council, with the cooperation of those who benefited.

In his statement as a defendant, Elena alleged that he has "no political ties" with the former mayor investigated by the Supreme Court for the same case, Fèlix Alonso, whom he "did not know," according to legal sources present. His defense points out that Antifrau found no crime and that excessive extensions are common in town halls. They have also calculated the accounting responsibility in case of administrative failure by the City Council and it would be only 600 euros for industrial benefit.

Thus, they consider it all a mere "administrative deficiency" for a poorly made extension by the council at the end of the contract – no more minor contracts could be granted and it was necessary to go to tender at the turn of the year, not to keep extending as was done–. According to consulted sources, Elena has reiterated that she never wanted to "breach the law" and has defended her work of legal and urbanistic advice, detached from politics from 2014 to 2021. In fact, in the eyes of the defense, the change of gradient on the facts being investigated occurs with the change of municipal government in Altafulla, which stopped paying some invoices to derive "political gain" from it.

In turn, Herrera, who was in charge of the energy area, has completely dissociated himself from the accusations and said that when the extension occurred, he was not part of the company, which he left in July 2018. When he was part of it, he was not in charge of this specific area either, but was only "formal administrator".

The Altafulla City Council has been a hotbed of complaints lately. However, it has been the charges for alleged corruption that have shaken the council. According to the court, the contracts "would require public tendering based on respect for transparency and equal and non-discriminatory treatment among bidders," as stated in the resolution of late May signed by magistrates Maria Eugènia Alegret, Jesús María Barrientos and Carlos Ramos. All those involved would have cooperated for common economic benefits, which the investigated deny.