The Court of Auditors has sentenced the former director of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia (OAC) Daniel de Alfonso to pay 142,484.47 euros unduly collected as seniority bonuses. The institution has partially upheld an appeal filed by the OAC itself and the Prosecutor’s Office against a ruling issued on October 31, which required De Alfonso to return 82,341.27 euros. The two appellants initially claimed 205,000 euros.
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De Alfonso led the institution between 2011 and 2016, until a recording surfaced with then Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz in which he boasted about having destroyed “the Catalan health system” in the State’s fight against independence during the procés. “We have accused them, we are screwing their CTTI” [the Centre for Telecommunications and Information Technologies],” De Alfonso added to finish: “I am Spanish, that’s clear, but I am in a situation where I have to dance there.”
After his departure, his successor, magistrate Miguel Ángel Gimeno, considered that De Alfonso applied the seniority increases from his previous period as a judge with the conditions he held as director of the OAC, which were much more favorable, applying a 5% increase on his base salary at the office, higher than during his time as a justice administration official. He received almost 40,000 euros annually that he was not entitled to.
The ruling is appealable by cassation before the Administrative Litigation Chamber of the Supreme Court
In the ruling, the Court of Auditors estimated the damage at 138,240.88 euros, but clarified that the liability had expired for all payments made before March 27, 2013. The Court then considered that the extra salary collected in 2015 and 2016 was supported by a resolution approved by the Parliament of Catalonia.
The Justice Chamber of the financial control body of the institutions now partially upholds the appeals regarding the collection of seniority bonuses from January 1, 2015: the October trial ruling had considered them lawful thanks to a modification of the Statutes of the Regime and Internal Government of the Parliament of Catalonia (ERGI), which govern the OAC.
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But it has now considered that under the applicable regulatory framework the ERGI do not apply to the direction of the OAC because they are not administratively part of the concept “Office personnel” established in the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia Law.
The new ruling obliges De Alfonso to return those 142,484.47 euros, to which the interest generated since the date of the previous ruling must be added.
The ruling is appealable by cassation before the Administrative Litigation Chamber of the Supreme Court.
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