The Investigating Court number 5 of Blanes has opened an investigation against the PSC councilor of Lloret de Mar Joan Antoni Escalona and two other people linked to the former board of the AFA of the Pompeu Fabra school for alleged crimes of fraud, misappropriation, disloyal administration, and falsification of public document.
The case stems from the complaint filed by the current board of the AFA, which denounced the previous management for an alleged crime of misappropriation. The judge has admitted that complaint for processing and has summoned the three investigated individuals to testify next October. She has also called members of the association as witnesses.
The investigation focuses on the period in which he was secretary of the AFA
The events under investigation are alleged to have occurred between 2022 and 2023, when Escalona was secretary of the AFA of the Pompeu Fabra school. At that time he was not a councilor. Currently, he is part of the government team of Lloret de Mar as councilor for Mobility and Health, within the executive headed by mayor Adrià Lamelas.
The current board of the AFA has opted not to make comments while the judicial procedure remains open.
The suspicions have been dragging on for two years
Two years ago, the municipal groups Tots per Lloret, ERC and +Lloret already criticized that Escalona had benefited from a bonus in his children's school meal scholarships without, supposedly, meeting the necessary conditions. Subsequently, he returned the amount of those aids, which would be around 2,900 euros.
Later, the opposition groups disseminated a joint statement in which they linked him with possible irregularities in the AFA of the Pompeu Fabra school, an entity of which he had been secretary.
"When there is a change of board and the accounts are found without money. It is then that an investigation is initiated and it is detected that the previous board would have applied a bonus of at least 70% in the payment of the dining room for their children" - Albert Ferràndez, spokesperson for ERC in Lloret
A report points to an economic gap and irregular expenses
Within the framework of these checks, a report incorporated into the known information about the case points to a variation of about 90,000 euros between the results of one year and another. That same document considers that this difference would not be consistent with the activities carried out by the entity.
Furthermore, an audit would have detected alleged irregularities in the justification of expenses. Among them would be purchases of home appliances and electronic devices that would have been registered as food consumption material.
The local government keeps Escalona in office
The mayor of Lloret de Mar has for now defended the continuity of the councilor, understanding that the procedure is in an initial phase and that there is not enough information to remove him from his municipal responsibilities.
"As of today, with the information we have, we defend the presumption of innocence and we hope that the judicial procedure goes evolving, which is in a very initial phase" - Adrià Lamelas, mayor of Lloret de Mar
The judicial summons of October will mark the next step of a case that puts the focus on the management of the former board of the AFA of Pompeu Fabra and that fully affects an active councilor of the municipal government of Lloret de Mar.