Xavier García Albiol, during his inauguration as mayor, in 2019.EFE
Xavier García Albiol has been preparing to become mayor of Badalona again since the opposition ousted him from power, 16 months ago, for his appearance in the
Pandora papers
.
"Don't have the slightest doubt, neighbors: in 2023 you are going to put us all in the place we deserve," he said, between excited and defiant, in plenary session.
And that place, Albiol thinks, is none other than the mayor's office, to which he wishes to return for the third time, convinced that it will be the most voted.
But in addition to surpassing the rest of the parties - with the current mayor, Rubén Guijarro, of the PSC, at the head -, he must face an obstacle that, in case of victory, could threaten his continuity in office: the Prosecutor's Office asks that he be sentenced to ten years of disqualification for "allowing" the installation of illegal telephone masts on the grounds of the Local Police station in 2012, during his first term.
The accusation comes at a very bad time for Albiol.
Just two months ago, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, incorporated him into the team that leads the popular campaign for the municipal and regional elections on May 28, which will serve to gauge Feijóo's forces in the future assault on the presidency of the Government.
Albiol was appointed coordinator of candidates.
Miguel Jurado, who had been his Security councilor, was appointed mayor for Santa Coloma de Gramenet.
Jury will also sit on the bench for the unlicensed antennas.
Albiol has publicly cast doubt on the actions of the Prosecutor's Office.
“It is no coincidence that this accusation comes out two months before the elections, at a time when our expectations in Badalona are good.
Nothing that is happening is due to chance," he wrote on his Twitter account, where he broadcasts almost daily the meetings he has with neighbors and entities and where he criticizes the action of the Guijarro government and the rest of the groups that support him. .
"It seems a bit suspicious to me," insists the mayor, who has had the support of other members of his party, such as Senator Rafael Hernando, who believes that the Prosecutor's Office "is trying to cover up the
corrupt
of Tito Berni" before "the panic" of Pedro Sánchez "to lose Badalona".
Asked about the prosecution's accusation and the consequences for Albiol, a PP spokeswoman stated that the party "has nothing to say" about it.
More information
The motion of the unpredictable Tamames and the absent Feijóo
But Albiol omits that, although the initial impulse was from the Prosecutor's Office, different judicial instances have endorsed the investigation.
In September 2021, the head of the Badalona Investigating Court number 4, Josep Maria Noales, saw signs of crime and agreed to prosecute him —along with other former councilors and officials from public companies— for tolerating “manifestly illegal” antennas and doing nothing to dismantle them: they were in operation until, in 2018, Vodafone and Telefónica learned that the Prosecutor's Office had opened proceedings and decided to close them.
The former mayor appealed the decision arguing that he did not have any participation in the process and that he cannot know everything that happens in the city.
He has reiterated it in a more informal way these days: "The Prosecutor's Office considers that I as mayor had to know that they had installed without permission and I had to have reacted," he lamented on Twitter.
The problem for Albiol is that there are three magistrates from the Eighth Section of the Barcelona Court who, in July 2022, refused to shelve the matter.
Judges see “consistent” evidence
In their resolution, the magistrates admit that the mayor of a city of more than 200,000 inhabitants cannot have "absolute and complete control" of everything.
But they insist that the investigative procedures have made it possible to demonstrate the "degree of personal connection" of Albiol with the installation of the antennas: the judges recall that he had attributed urban planning powers to himself, that he was president of Engestur (the public company in charge of supervise these types of facilities) and that the CEO of that company, Tomás Vizcaíno, "has not denied at any time" that one of the issues they discussed together was "the controversial installation of antennas."
The magistrates also cite the testimony of members of the SPF police union who, in addition to "repeatedly" asking for explanations in writing, agree on "the existence of meetings with the mayor."
The indications are "consistent", so the file does not fit, they conclude.
The resolution, in any case, is not consistent with what Albiol has stated these days: "The different people who have gone through the court have asked them if [I] knew about the issue, and no one has said yes, everyone has Said they didn't talk to me."
The story that threatens Albiol's political career began in 2012, when Vodafone contacted the CEO of Engestur to install a telephone antenna in Turó d'En Caritg to serve neighborhoods with poor coverage.
Those involved knew that the Urban Police facility, intended for facilities, "was not compatible urbanistically" to house it, so they could not grant an express license.
Even so, they "allowed" and "tolerated" the installation "by way of fact", without a municipal or environmental license, always according to the Prosecutor's Office.
Vodafone's three 15-meter antennas began operating in July 2012 and did so "peacefully and without hindrance" from the administration.
A similar operation was repeated in September, but with Telefónica.
Both companies will appear as participants for profit in a case in which the Prosecutor's Office accuses a total of six people.
Albiol, Vizcaíno and Xavier Salvà (director of urban planning) are asked for two and a half years in prison for prevarication and disqualification for ten years to hold "any representative elected position in the local, regional, state or European administration."
Miguel Jurado, mayor of Santa Coloma, is asked for a year of disqualification for omission of the duty to prosecute crimes.
As a security councillor, according to the indictment,
He knew about the irregularities through the SPF union and "did not communicate" the facts.
The former Town Planning councilor who succeeded Albiol, Oriol Lladó (from ERC) and Josep Duran, head of legal services, face a request for a year and a half in prison (and ten years of disqualification) for silencing the infraction: they did nothing, according to the Prosecutor's Office, for reversing the situation and forcing the removal of the antennas.
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