The Anti-Fraud Office opens a file for the hiring of Orriols' daughter as a local police officer

BarcelonaNew setback for Sílvia Orriols. The Office of Anti-Fraud of Catalonia (OAC) has opened an investigation into the mayor of Ripoll for alleged irregularities in the hiring of her daughter as a local police officer. The OAC procedure responds to a complaint, which has been admitted for processing and now moves to an investigation phase, in which it will be assessed whether it has merit. Last week, both in the plenary session and the following day in a press conference without questions, Orriols denied having influenced the hiring of her daughter as a local police officer and defended that she obtained "the best grade in a regulated selection process" for an urgent position.

"I have absolutely abstained from participating in anything that affects the process." In this way, Orriols argued that she abstained from the procedure and did not intervene in the evaluation of the candidates. However, municipal decrees show that the mayor did sign documents related to the call for applications, such as the approval of the process's bases (with a practical test and an interview) and the appointment of the tribunal, made up of a sergeant and two corporals from the local police force. And the law on the legal regime of the public sector establishes that in case of a close relationship or kinship, the political official must withdraw from the call for applications.

Therefore, the public official intervening in any phase when there is a conflict of interest may violate the duty of abstention and, if applicable, lead to the annulment of the process or administrative responsibilities. It should be emphasized that the mayor intervened in the process when she already knew that her daughter was a candidate for the position because the call for applications was opened on June 11 and she signed the mayoral decree on June 30, which resolved key elements of the selection process.

The City Council justified the appointment due to an "unpostponable need" to reinforce the Local Police. Thus, Orriols alleged "an understaffing of personnel" that compromised the efficient provision of the service. The opposition, on the other hand, points out that the ordinary process to fill the position had been halted for about six months before being reactivated and that if it was such an urgent need, it is difficult to explain why the process was not accelerated when two positions became vacant more than a year ago.

Junts per Ripoll has also made a move at the political level. After asking the mayor last week to delegate the responsibilities of the Security department to avoid a "conflict of interest", on Tuesday they formally registered this request. "We are not asking Sílvia Orriols to stop being mayor or to renounce responsibilities that have nothing to do with this case. We are asking that she does not politically direct the Local Police while her daughter works there as an agent", Junts remarked in a statement. On Wednesday, however, Orriols refused again. "I will not abandon the Security and Immigration department as the opposition asks me to... Firstly, because the selection process has been clean, transparent, and based on the law. And secondly, because guaranteeing security and curbing immigration are my priority", she retorted.