The TSJC imputes former minister Elena and former ICV leader Joan Herrera for irregular awards

BarcelonaThe former Minister of the Interior Joan Ignasi Elena – current ERC deputy – and the former leader of Iniciativa Joan Herrera have been charged in a case of alleged corruption in the town of Altafulla. The High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TJSC) announced this Wednesday that it has expanded the investigation into Elena and Herrera as "alleged necessary cooperators" in the awarding of minor contracts to a consultancy managed by both, Sinergia EDM. The total amount would reach 30,000 euros. In the court's opinion, it could be a crime of prevarication in cooperation with the then mayor, Fèlix Alonso Cantorné, who is being investigated by the Supreme Court for favoring the two politicians by committing alleged crimes. Alonso is currently a deputy in Congress for Comuns.

The civil and criminal chamber of the TSJC agreed this Wednesday to assume jurisdiction for the investigation of a case initiated in court 4 of the local court in El Vendrell because Elena is aforado by his condition as a deputy of Esquerra in Parliament. One of the investigated conducts is that they would have agreed to bypass the rules of contracting to achieve that the minor contracts were awarded to them. According to the court, the contracts "would require a public tender based on respect for transparency and equal and non-discriminatory treatment among bidders", as stated in the resolution signed by magistrates Maria Eugènia Alegret, Jesús María Barrientos and Carlos Ramos.

The judges add that "the corresponding advisory services would have been invoiced by the company Singergia EDM monthly in the amount of 1,300 euros plus VAT, issuing 13 invoices with the concept of advice", although outside the contract, nine more invoices would have been issued for the same amount for similar concepts, which would have been paid mostly in 2019. The sum of the 22 invoices issued between November 11, 2017, and July 31, 2019, which were paid by the City Council, amounted to a total of 25,046.67 euros plus 5,259.80 euros of VAT, which exceeded the contract price of 15,600 euros plus 3,276 euros of VAT.

The shadow of suspicion

The court takes into account the supervisory report of the auditor regarding the minor contract, which specifies that the invoices "have not respected the principles of publicity and competition" and that "they are repeated over the years with the same supplier", which is why the contracting file had to be initiated according to the law; but it also recalls that it could not last more than one year. The Altafulla City Council would also have awarded Sinergia EDM a contract for 5,000 euros to draft the tender documents for the planning, coordination and programming of the Casal Municipal La Violeta, without there being "the need for the contract". In fact, it is one of the tasks that municipal staff usually perform, it did not have the legal report from the secretary approving the contracting file and it had contrary reports from the auditor.

In the opinion of the court, the corresponding procedure could have been dispensed with, with an "improper use of the extension" and of the minor contract, and it would have been contracted with companies directed by people who allegedly maintain close political ties with the mayor's party (Sumar En Comú Podem).

The suspicion stems from Alonso's tenure as mayor, between 2011 and 2019, with an alleged conspiracy with Elena, who before ERC (with whom she was Minister of the Interior between 2021 and 2024, and has been a deputy since then) had held responsibilities in the PSC (until 2014) and Herrera, a historical figure from the Iniciativa space, now integrated into Comuns. At the end of April, the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court opened a case against Alonso for an alleged crime of prevarication for the contracts with Sinergia EDM and the companies Milà Advocats SLP. "To give an appearance of legality and knowing that it was not, [Alonso] resorted to a contracting dynamic through the figure of the minor contract, by which he evaded the publicity requirements and allowed direct award and enabled an arbitrary choice of the contractor," explained the Spanish High Court. In fact, the court points out that in some cases there was no procedure before making the award.