The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor is investigating (and that is why it has requested information from the Ondara City Council) the existence or not of irregularities in some contracts carried out by the Ondara Town Hall in the cultural sphere. Specifically, referring to contracts framed in the initiative The Jewel of Culture to make culture safe in times of pandemic.
The complaint filed with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor questions cultural contracts and requests information on three companies linked to the initiative and on the Councilor for Culture of Ondara, Raquel Mengual. The Prosecutor's Office has requested, among other things, information on the delegations assigned to Raquel Mengual in matters of hiring (The ability to contract falls on the Local Government Board, at the request and request of the technicians of the various areas, but in no case on the Councilor for Culture).
This matter was addressed in the ordinary plenary session of the month of May in Ondara for one of the points on the agenda (to definitively approve the ex officio review procedure of an invoice from one of the companies under investigation). At the end of the point, the Mayor of Ondara, José Ramiro, took the opportunity to ask the PP if this party was behind the complaint filed with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor on this issue, to which the PP spokesman, Álex Hernández, confirmed that his party had indeed been the architect of the complaint filed with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor.
Àlex Hernández qualified, however, that they had not denounced the Councilor for Culture, and argued that in their work of monitoring the government they have presented many things to the Prosecutor's Office, which "enters ex officio where it sees any irregularity." He also stated that “we saw an irregularity and submitted a letter to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor of Alicante, because it is the most appropriate. Better than going to the Dénia Court to present the complaint and take our photo as others have done here, and, so far, we have not spoken out or wanted to harm any person in particular ».
For his part, José Ramiro indicated that Hernández's words were interpreted as "not the only thing you have sent to the Prosecutor's Office", adding that "nothing has been heard from the other nor has information been requested", and that "this ( this denunciation) will also come to nothing, because there is nothing».
Regarding the point in question that gave rise to the debate, the plenary session definitively approved (with the abstention of PP and Ciutadans) the ex officio review procedure and therefore the nullity of the agreement was declared definitively. of the Local Government Board dated October 1, 2021, by which an invoice for the amount of €4,005.10 (presented on 09/20/2021) was approved to the company MAXIMLED, SL for “stage rental , sound and lights, The Jewel of Culture, August 2021”. Such agreement violates what is established in article 47.1.e) of Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations, in relation to articles 37 and 39.1 of Law 9/2017, on Contracts of the Public Sector.
It should be remembered that the ordinary plenary session of December 2021 approved the ex officio review of this invoice from the company following a request from the Provincial Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. After beginning the ex officio review of this invoice and after having asked the legal advisor for the applicable regulations and the procedure to follow, the opinion was requested from the Consell Jurídic Consultiu to rule on the possible cause of invalidity of the invoice. After receiving the corroboration of the Consell Jurídic Consultiu, the conclusion is that, since there is no previous contracting file that can support the approved invoice (total and absolute lack of the enforceable contracting procedure), the agreement that approves the invoice lacks the defect of absolute or radical nullity.
This conclusion has been corroborated by the Consell Jurídic Consultiu, which in its Opinion of April 13, 2022, ratifies the municipal considerations and issues a favorable opinion for the ex officio review of the JGL agreement of October 1, 2021. Therefore , this invoice will be subject to an ex officio review process. The Mayor of Ondara, José Ramiro, explained to the plenary session that the Ondara City Council had taken the initiative to review this invoice as there was no contract file.
