The Castelldefels Town Hall (Barcelona) has once again condoned the Govern a debt of Real Estate Tax (IBI) for the Canal Olampico, located in the coastal town. The Generalitat is the owner of the facility built for the Barcelona Olympic Games, but it still has not been transferred to the local administration 28 years later. As EL MUNDO has learned, the discount made by the Consistory to the Government is 71.544 euros; that is, the 20% of the three-year IBI.
The reduction is produced based on the agreement signed in May 2019 by the mayor of Castelldefels, MarÃa Miranda (PSC), and the General Secretary for Sports of the Generalitat, Gerard figueras. The agreement is for four years, but the financial compensation will take place in three, between 2020 and 2022. In exchange for the cancellation of the 71,544 euros, residents enter the Canal for free, something they could already do since 2010 without resulting in an economic consideration for the city.
The Consistory, led by the PSC together with its partners from Esquerra Republicana and Junts per Catalunya, has confirmed that it has decided to make a reduction in the IBI receipt of the Olympic Channel. So it was established during the last municipal plenary session:  «It was agreed to deduct from the receipt the sum of the tickets to the Castelldefels Citizens Channel. Are 6,000 visits », explains a municipal spokesman.
The cancellation of the sports facility tax is not new. 15 years ago, when the mayor was the socialist Antoni padilla, the City Council forgave a debt of a thousand euros that the Canal had with the city as the IBI under an agreement.  «It was in exchange for the transfer of a building that is within the facilities», says a spokesman for the Town Hall. The City Council has been managing the space for more than a decade, located next to a side access to the facilities, but it has hardly used it and it looks dilapidated. At the time of signing that agreement, the tripartite led the Government.
A subsequent agreement between the Consistory and the Generalitat, dated 2010, served to agree that residents could enter the Canal without paying to walk. The agreement remains in force despite the fact that infrastructure managers have subsequently sought to make citizens pay for access. The managing entity claimed that it stopped collecting about 18,000 per year for free entry by residents. Before the gratuity was introduced, the price of the ticket was two euros.
“Under the shadow of corruption”
The former mayor of Castelldefels and deputy of the PP in the Parliament Manu Reyes He believes that  «taxes and debts should not continue to be forgiven to the Canal, a facility that 28 years ago would have to be municipally owned».  «If the neighbors pay taxes, the Canal too», claims the mayor. “That money could have gone to citizens, so this decision costs us money.”
Reyes is one of the three mayors of Castelldefels who claimed municipal ownership of the Olympic Channel, which was close to being sold by the Generalitat during the previous crisis, when it got rid of several buildings. The transfer of the enclosure to the City Council is a historical claim of the coastal town. Municipal sources point out that the Government’s reason for denying the request is of an economic nature, since “it would mean giving up the income” it generates. To the Palau Sant Jordi or the Badalona Olympic Pavilion they were traded. Equipment of the Mediterranean Games, in TarragonaYes, they are going to be transferred, but there is no such intention for the Canal. Why? », Asks Reyes. Â «They say it is not profitable. It is not because it has been used for other types of dubious activities in recent years. It is under the shadow of corruption. Nothing should be forgiven him for himself at this time. Less, if possible, with those suspicions, “he adds.
Last July, the Civil Guard searched the offices of Equacat, management company of the Olympic Channel, in relation to alleged economic crimes. The Court 1 of Barcelona investigates alleged crimes of fraud, prevarication, influence peddling, embezzlement and money laundering from the General Secretariat of Sport of the Generalitat. The objective of the registry was to search for evidence on alleged irregular subsidies by the Secretariat and the Barcelona Provincial Council.
The judge endorses the existence of indications that point to a duplication in the justification of the funds of the Provincial Council and the budget item of half a million euros approved by the Government to be used for the adaptation and rehabilitation of the Canal. According to the magistrate, that would be the formula of masking the destiny of part of an amount that could later be used for political purposes related to the procés. Months ago, the Generalitat’s Secretary for Sports was arrested in an operation against an alleged embezzlement.
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