If his name makes it through to the vote in the Catalan Parliament next week, Judge Josep Tomàs Salàs will soon leave judicial sentencing for the directorship of the Anti-Fraud Office. Until now, he has been the delegate for the criminal courts of Barcelona, ​​and among his former colleagues are four judges whom he himself mentored when they were preparing for their competitive examinations. In fact, those close to him say he would have dedicated more time to teaching were it not for the 75-hour annual limit that judges must adhere to. Salàs, 64, has said that if he leads the Anti-Fraud Office, he will be a "discreet" leader—he doesn't have social media accounts nor any interest in having them—and his profile represents a continuation of the approach taken by the current director of the Anti-Fraud Office, Miguel Ángel Gimeno, with whom he worked closely when he was Gimeno's chief of staff during his presidency of the High Court of Justice. Salàs prepared for his first competitive examinations while doing his military service. In 1984, he entered the justice system as a court officer. While working, he studied law and then practiced as a lawyer for twelve years. Those close to him recall that during this period he was "more financially successful than professionally fulfilled," as he handled, among other things, insurance and compensation claims. He eventually decided to prepare for new competitive examinations to return to the administration, this time as a legal advisor.

A pact between the PSC and ERC has cleared the way for the new director of the Anti-Fraud Office. Both parliamentary groups proposed Judge Josep Tomàs Salas for the position on Tuesday at the Parliament's governing board, replacing Miguel Ángel Gimeno, whose term expired this September. This Thursday, the Catalan judge will appear before the committee on institutional affairs to explain his proposal before being voted on by the full Parliament, where it is expected that the majority that supported the investiture, including the Comuns party, will approve the nomination. Salas was a close collaborator of Gimeno when the latter was president of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC). To become the new director of the Antifraud Office, the support of three-fifths of the members of parliament is required in the first vote, that is, 81 members. However, if this is not achieved, a second vote would be held in which only an absolute majority of votes would be necessary, the 68 members of parliament who supported Salvador's investiture. Government spokesperson Silvia Paneque defended the selection of the new director, made "at the proposal of the president," which must be submitted to the "parliamentary process." "It is a suitable profile, and it will be the Parliament that defines and expresses its opinion on this matter," she emphasized, adding that there is a "majority" that can endorse it. Although the proposal was mandated to be made by the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, Josep Tomàs Salas's name was put forward as part of an agreement between the PSC and ERC parties. According to the Socialists, the name was communicated to the main parliamentary groups, including Junts. However, Junts members have sent a letter to the president lamenting that the proposal came without "any consensus with the main opposition party": "He hasn't even opened a real space for negotiation on a decision of this magnitude," lamented the parliamentary group's president, Mònica Sales, at the mass. In any case, the spokesperson in the chamber, Salvador Vergés, made it clear at a press conference that Junts' discontent is not "with the name," but with "the methods" of the executive. Meanwhile, the leader of Comuns in the Parliament, Jéssica Albiach, stated that they will wait for the magistrate's appearance before deciding how to vote. "The name and CV were put forward before several parliamentary groups [...] Junts has decided to practice a flat-rate opposition," retorted the president of the PSC parliamentary group, Ferran Pedret.

The 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.

Itziar González is an architect and social urban planner by profession with a background in politics: in 2007, she ran as an independent candidate on the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) ticket for the Ciutat Vella councillorship. She is also a member of the measures that parties and organizations agreed to promote in 2015, a social pact against corruption in Catalonia.

The apartment was half empty, but the entity that managed it was collecting rent from the Generalitat (Catalan government) as if all the spaces in the apartment were occupied. This is what is known among workers in the sector as "ghost spaces." Now, three examples of this entity have reported it to the Anti-Fraud Office and the Catalan Ombudsman, within the framework of the research advanced by the ARA In January: alleged irregularities in the payment of financial and housing benefits to young people in care were reported to a technician from the Girona district.

"It was a risky operation, but we did what we had to do because we needed the material to protect health professionals. We had to fend for ourselves and we did not make a mistake," said Minister of Health Josep Maria Argimon, who appeared on Thursday before Parliament's ordinary health committee at his own request to defend the controversial contract for the purchase of masks and PPE from Basic Devices, signed during the first days of the pandemic. The contract was made through the emergency route for an initial value of €60m and Catalonia's Anti-Fraud Office investigated and qualified the operation as "reckless" due to the lack of solid references about the company – it was the first time it was supplying the health system – and the advance payment made to ensure the acquisition, which was finally carried out and €35m were paid. "It is always more comfortable not to take risks, but in the situation of maximum shortage and pressure on care we were in, we had to do it. We did what we could," reiterated Argimon, who was the director of the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) at the time.