Sitges mayor released after arrest for corruption over case of subsidies and contracts awarded

The mayor of Sitges, Aurora Carbonell (ERC), was released around 8:30 pm on Wednesday, after being arrested in the morning in connection with a corruption investigation also implicating twelve other people, including eight councilors from the period 2017-2022.

Overall, 11 people had been arrested as part of the case, also including the Esquerra councilor Jaume Monasterio. Later in the afternoon, police let all other detainees go after appearing before a judge. 

The group are being investigated for the crimes of misuse of public funds, embezzlement, and falsification of documents in the awarding of grants and minor contracts in the previous two mandates.

Actions of the city council in the ambit of the Third Sector Board and a cooperative are being investigated.

Spain's National Police carried out several searches on Wednesday morning and have seized documents relating to the entities under investigation.

The searches were carried out simultaneously in the private homes of some of the investigated and spaces of the two entities and departments of Sitges council.

The court has had these proceedings open since May 2022 and opened them after receiving a police report.

ERC already held the mayorship of the city in the previous mandate, and they held onto it after the 2023 election despite Junts winning more votes. Predecessors of Junts, CiU, held the mayor's office in the prior mandate, between 2015 and 2019.

The Sitges City Council assures that the investigation is connected to "external" irregularities that the council has already analyzed and denies any wrongdoing.