National Court orders search of three Town Halls in Cataluña

National Court orders search of three Town Halls in Cataluña
larger | smaller
By m.p. - Oct 27, 2009 - 12:52 PM
The Mayor of Santa Coloma de Gramenet is one of the six suspects in custody

Civil Guard outside the Town Hall in Santa Coloma - EFE

At least six people are in custody after a Civil Guard swoop on three local councils in Barcelona province ordered by the National Court judge, Baltasar Garzón. Searches have been taking place this Tuesday at the Town Halls in Badalona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres in an investigation into alleged planning crimes.

RNE Spanish national television said the Mayor of Santa Coloma, Bartomeu Muñoz of the PSC Catalan Socialist party, is amongst the suspects in custody. Others are reported to be staff from the Town Hall and suspects connected to the real estate sector. It was later confirmed that two high-ranking officials under the previous Catalan regional government led by Jordi Pujol are also in custody: Lluís Prenafeta, former secretary for presidency and Macià Alavedra, ex councillor for government and economy.

Badalona, Cataluña’s third largest city after Barcelona and Hospitalet de Llobregat, is governed in coalition by PSC with the two pro-independence parties ERC and CiU. The latter is in power in Sant Andreu.

The Socialist Mayor and three councillors arrested in another swoop in Castro de Rei, Galicia, spent Monday night in police cells and EFE reports the Socialist Mayor, Juan José Díaz Valiño, and two of the councillors will remain there until they come before the judge on Wednesday. Ana Canto, councillor for women’s affairs and welfare, was released without bail on Tuesday.

Click here for related stories

mobile |

email this article | print

printer friendly page

More Spain News : Cataluña

Readers' comments:
Please keep to the subject. Opinions published here are of our visitors, not the Typically Spanish team. Comments which go against Spanish laws or which are libellous are not allowed. We reserve the right to delete any comment we wish. Placing a comment indicates you have read our terms and conditions and privacy policy.

Por favor, céntrate en el tema. Son las opiniones de los internautas, y no las de Typically Spanish. No está permitido verter comentarios contrarios a las leyes españolas o injuriantes. Reservado el derecho a eliminar los comentarios que consideremos fuera de tema. Escribir un comentario indica que has leído nuestros condiciones de uso y politica de privacidad.