The mayor of Barcelona, ​​Ada Colau, is summoned to testify on March 4 as investigated for alleged irregularities in the granting of subsidies to entities in which she was before arriving at the City Council, a complaint from an association that accuses her of embezzlement, prevarication and influence peddling.
The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has informed that Colau has been summoned as investigated at 10:30 on March 4 for alleged irregularities in the granting of subsidies, an investigation that the Prosecutor’s Office already filed last year after a first complaint in the same sense of another entity.
The Court of Instruction number 21 of Barcelona has now opened an investigation procedure by admitting this new complaint against Colau filed last December, this time by the Association for Transparency and Democratic Quality, for the alleged crimes of prevarication , hiring fraud, embezzlement, influence peddling and prohibited negotiations with a public official.
Last July, the Prosecutor’s Office closed the investigation that opened the mayor of Barcelona and the deputies of Congress and former councilors Jaume Asens and Gerardo Pisarello, for subsidizing entities with which they collaborated with 3.4 million euros before giving the jump into politics.
On that occasion, and after the proceedings carried out, the public ministry shelved the investigation, finding no evidence of crime in the subsidies granted by the Barcelona City Council to entities such as the DESC Observatory or the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH ).
That other complaint accused Colau and his team of the crimes of prevarication, contract fraud, embezzlement of funds and influence peddling for the “repeated and presumably unjustified” granting of subsidies by the City Council to the DESC Observatory, the PAH, the Alliance against Energy Poverty (APE) or Engineers Without Borders (ESF).
The mayor of Barcelona has expressed her “tranquility” and at the same time her “perplexity”, in addition to her “surprise” for having found out through the media because she has not yet received the notification.
“I think it will come to nothing ,” declared the mayor, who has argued this conviction that Barcelona City Council “does things well” and that the Public Prosecutor’s Office has already investigated the same reported events and decided to file them.
Another reason for his “total tranquility” in the face of this complaint is precisely that the complaint was filed by the Association for Transparency and Democratic Quality, an entity about which he has assured that no other activity is known to him than actions to prevent initiatives in favor of public water management in Barcelona and Valladolid.
The mayor explained that this very morning the legal services of Barcelona City Council have contacted the court to offer their collaboration.