The controversies that have shaken the Parliament as a result of its opaque internal management have jumped to the Anti-Frau Office, which has investigated possible favorable treatment in the competitions for civil servant positions or in the hiring as interim of relatives of employees of the institution, as well as the perks of licenses based on age.
These privileges, which provided a golden retirement, receiving full salary, to Chamber workers from age 60 to the legal retirement age, were repealed in February 2022, amid a public scandal. Even so, the last twelve licenses were granted when their removal was already being negotiated.
These and other irregularities were reported to the office headed by Judge Miguel Ángel Gimeno, who last spring, during Laura Borràs's suspension as a deputy, sent a letter to the first vice president, Alba Vergés, who was acting as president, requesting permission to investigate.
In an anonymous letter, they warned of a series of practices and customs long established in the Catalan Chamber and which, according to legal sources consulted, could be considered illegal. Now, Antifrau is finalizing his response.
Being an institution protected by its statutory nature, which defines its inviolability, unlike city councils, councils and other consortia, the law obliges the Anti-Frau Office – the body in charge of ruling on conflicts of interest in the public sector – to request authorization to intervene in Parliament.
The Board discussed whether or not to allow Antifrau its investigation and on May 9, for the first time, after some previous occasions in which the office had tried without success to investigate the functioning of the institution, it agreed to open the doors and the archives of the Parliament and offer the information that is requested.
Among other cases, the complainant refers to an alleged favorable treatment given by the former Secretary General of the Parliament Esther Andreu, who had to resign on May 31, 2022, when it was revealed that the hiring of her son as interim usher had not been carried out. adjusted to the correct legality and that, in addition, she had not notified of the kinship relationship, which forced her to refrain from participating in the selection process.
A second controversial appointment, more distant in time and which also appears in the extensive complaint sent to Antifrau, is that of the partner of another lawyer who, according to the accusation, benefited from a contract as a Chamber usher for which there was to expand the number of vacant positions ad hoc. This happened during the presidency of the Republican Roger Torrent, and already then the Junts members of that Board, Eusebi Campdepadrós and Josep Costa, opposed this way of proceeding.
The complaint maintains that historically the Parliament has tried to cover up, in what would result in an obstruction to the right to information, these alleged corruptions for the benefit of specific people and for which collusion between officials and politicians was necessary. If they were proven true, legal sources indicate that Antifrau should submit them to the public prosecutor's office, since they would imply a possible crime of prevarication that, ultimately, could mean that the appointments in question were declared null and void.
