The political mess in Altafulla that ended up in court: detectives, defection, and a bribery complaint

BarcelonaThe residents of Altafulla have seen how the municipality's political life has become increasingly entangled for years, to the point of opening various legal proceedings. This town in the Tarragona region, with fewer than 6,000 inhabitants and more than 3,000 tourist beds in hotels and campsites, has witnessed a judicial investigation—now closed—into councilors allegedly harassing the mayor on social media, and accusations from the opposition that the council used public funds. All this in a city where Alternativa Altafulla—linked to Comuns—and Junts successfully passed a motion of no confidence against ERC during the previous term, which in 2023 regained the mayor's office in coalition with Junts. For several months now, the Republicans have governed alone, but one councilor expelled from the Junts municipal group has remained in government and now faces a bribery complaint from his former colleagues.

"There is a desperation on the part of some who want to remain in City Hall at any price. They didn't achieve this through the policy of pacts, and now they want us to give in under pressure," Mayor Jordi Molinera (ERC) summarized in a conversation with ARA regarding the messages from "trolls" on social media. He sees "an obvious strategy of attrition," in which anonymous users even created profiles with the names of their minor children. Molinera's complaint was eventually dismissed first by a court and then by the Tarragona Court of Appeals, as was the case with the complaint filed for the same reasons by the City Council's communications manager, Albert Jansà. In his case, a private detective firm compiled a report on the users who insulted him on social media.

The messages against Jansà also reached the courts, although it has not been clarified who was behind them. Just this week, the Tarragona Court confirmed the dismissal of the case with a ruling justifying the right to criticism and freedom of expression, which put an end to a case in which councilors from Alternativa Altafulla and Junts were investigated.

Those affected are celebrating that the complaint came to nothing. "It's been two and a half years of suffering suspicions. They ended up costing us the mayor's office," criticizes spokesperson Montse Castellarnau of Alternativa, who in the previous term took office after the vote of no confidence in Molinera. In statements to ARA, she believes that the "unsubstantiated" accusations against her party would have led Junts to refuse to revalidate the governing pact it had maintained with AA since the vote of no confidence and to opt for an alliance with ERC, reports Martina Alcobendas.

Complaint to the Antifraud Commission

With the judicial investigation into the X messages closed, the opposition is now focusing its attention on how Molinera's legal representation has been paid. "I don't know of any city council that pays public money to investigate fake profiles," Castellarnau criticizes. "The problem is that they haven't paid for it out of their own pocket, but with public funds, and that expense will never benefit the city council or the town, but rather their benefit," says the president of Junts in Altafulla, Toni Capell.

On the other hand, the governing team maintains that it was done correctly: "We feel extremely comfortable having taken a financial allocation from the City Council to defend our elected officials," Molinera maintains, adding that he had the approval of the municipal secretary. "If elected officials in city councils cannot have legal defenses against the harassment we are suffering, where is democracy?" adds the mayor, who estimates the payments to a single invoice of 6,655 euros. Although the city council's transparency portal lists two invoices for the same amount from the law firm that took over, Molinera clarifies that the first was canceled and only the second was paid.

The discrepancy is now in the hands of the Anti-Fraud Office, which has accepted a complaint from the municipal group Junts. The complaint has already passed the admission phase, and the evidence provided is now being evaluated to decide whether to open an investigation, according to Anti-Fraud sources.

Complaint against former Junts member

Juntos has also filed a complaint in the El Vendrell courts, adding another layer to the political and judicial mess in Altafulla. It points to the mayor and councilor Tomàs Serra, who was elected on the Junts list and continues in the government as a non-affiliated party after his former party left the coalition government in February. Junts' complaint for alleged malfeasance and bribery states that Serra's appointment as first deputy mayor would have been a "political compensation" for having abstained from voting on the municipal budget, instead of voting against it as Junts had decided, which allowed the budget to be approved. Among other things, the party justifies its complaint on the law regulating the foundations of the local government, which "prohibits defector councilors from receiving additional positions or salaries," and on the Supreme Court's jurisprudence on "political defection incentivized by positions or salaries."

Molinera, however, argues that the appointment did not imply any change in Serra's remuneration, and maintains that he appointed him "so as not to burn bridges" with the only Junts councilor who had not voted against the budget. Serra also points out that Junts and ERC signed a pact to alternate the mayoralty (two and a half years for ERC, one and a half for Junts) and the first deputy mayoralty (the other way around). He adds that his appointment did not provide him with "any improvement, on the contrary, it was detrimental to his assumption of office."