The former director of the Anti-Fraud Office, ordered to return 82,300 euros of undue payments

BarcelonaDaniel de Alfonso, former director of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia (OAC), will have to return €82,341 for improper payments he received while heading the agency. This was determined by the Court of Auditors, which partially upheld the request made by both the OAC's lawyer and the Public Prosecutor's Office following a report from the Catalan Audit Office that alerted authorities to these irregularities. The oversight body found De Alfonso liable for misappropriating bonuses to which he was not entitled, through supplements added to his salary. The former director, who is a judge, had improperly awarded himself seniority bonuses based on his service in various judicial positions prior to his arrival at the Anti-Fraud Office. Under the regulations in force at the time, he could not do so: according to the statutes governing the internal workings and administration of Parliament, applicable to this office, employees could only have their seniority increments for service within that office itself counted, and not in any other public administration. De Alfonso is a judge and, therefore, the Court of Auditors considers it "unquestionable" that, with his legal training, he should have seen that he was not applying the regulations correctly.

However, in December 2014, Parliament amended this provision to allow for the consideration of three-year service increments completed in any administration. Therefore, the Court of Auditors' censure extends to payments made by De Alfonso up to that date, but not to receipts issued afterward. While the accusations raised the figure to €205,000, it should be noted that liability for actions taken before March 27, 2013, has expired, according to the Court of Auditors. In fact, De Alfonso will have to return €71,363 of the money he received, and €10,978 of the money received by members of his team.

The case against De Alfonso, whichHe was dismissed in 2016For his alleged involvement in the dirty war against Catalan independence, the prosecution pointed out that he had constructed a scheme to divert public funds in order to unduly increase the salaries of himself and his inner circle—two other former high-ranking officials from the Catalan Anti-Fraud Office (OAC). "The facts are fully proven," the Anti-Fraud lawyer, Rosa Maria Pérez, emphasized, while the former director's defense presented him as the victim of a politically motivated case and distanced him from payroll management, shifting responsibility to the head of human resources, Josep Maria Sangenís, who has also been implicated.

In the ruling, consulted by the ARA, The Court of Auditors now finds some of these irregularities proven and accuses De Alfonso of "grossly negligent conduct." "The ignorance claimed in the responses regarding the entity's financial management is inexcusable for someone who holds the position of a member of the judiciary," it insists. However, the ruling is not final. De Alfonso, who serves as a magistrate in a prison oversight court in Cantabria, can now file an administrative appeal with the ordinary courts.