Barcelona readers following Catalan public life will want to note this case from north of the city, where the Catalan Anti-Fraud Office has urged the Maresme Regional Council to review the hiring process for its Director of Governance, Transparency and Internal Services.
The office says it found possible irregularities in how the council checked the candidate’s experience and how the selection process was made public. The warning came after a complaint questioned whether the candidate met the conditions needed for the post.
According to the Anti-Fraud Office’s preliminary verisimilitude actions, the selection rules required at least five years of experience in the public or private sector, in technical or management roles, as an alternative to being a public employee in group A1. The office says the candidate’s experience was backed only by lawyers’ certificates and a self-declaration, which said they had worked part-time as a lawyer, about 20 hours a week, alongside another full-time job.
The document also says the council’s assessment committee ended up recognising the current director as having 3.94 years of equivalent experience, below the five-year threshold. Even so, the council admitted the candidate and allowed them to continue in the process. The Anti-Fraud Office says that could affect the admission act and later decisions, including the final appointment.
The office also raised concerns about transparency. It says the council admitted the candidate and called them for a test without publishing their name, which it считает may breach Catalan transparency rules. The council’s president, Rafa Navarro of Together for Catalonia (Junts), said the council has acted with “absolute transparency” and argued that the office’s calculations are wrong. This newspaper has asked the council for the documents it says support its position.
The Anti-Fraud Office has recommended that the council formally review the admission act and carry out an internal analysis of the procedure to see whether any administrative responsibilities or transparency breaches occurred. It says the investigation phase is now closed and that its resolution does not automatically void the appointment, but it does require the council to consider corrective action. For readers following local public administration and politics, see our community coverage and sport updates.
The council has not said whether it will follow the recommendations. The office also rejected Navarro’s claim that the case is under secrecy of proceedings, saying complainants can make their case public and that the investigation stage has already finished.
