Parts of the judicial summary concern contracts awarded to the Fundació per a la Inclusió Laboral (FIL) while Eduard Rivas was mayor of Esparreguera, Barcelona, from 2015 to 2024. Rivas also served as a trustee of the Esparreguera-based foundation, which supports employment for people with intellectual disabilities and others facing exclusion or vulnerability. The contracts relate to municipal services, including street cleaning and the upkeep of parks, gardens and public spaces. The material indicates that Rivas may have anticipated criteria for the awards; the case remains under investigation and does not establish that he committed an offence.
Rivas was informed on 29 October 2026 that the secrecy order in the investigation, handled by Investigative Court No. 7 of Martorell, had been lifted. He resigned as Salvador Illa's chief of staff the following day, saying he wanted to leave “no shadow of doubt” over the Generalitat government and his position beside the president. El Periódico reported that the broader inquiry covers five contracts awarded between 2020 and 2025, with a combined value approaching €5 million; investigators are examining an alleged intention to favour FIL. A separate reported figure is a €203,000 subsidy awarded to the foundation by Esparreguera's city council in 2022. These are investigative parameters, not findings of unlawful conduct. Police also seized documents at the city council on 15 January in connection with contracts awarded to FIL. The inquiry includes contracts for street cleaning and public-space maintenance from 2022, 2023 and 2024. It examines whether any public money may have covered private expenses linked to the organisation.
In the Catalan Parliament's control session, Vox leader Ignacio Garriga criticised Rivas for waiting until the secrecy order was lifted before stepping down. Garriga accused the Socialists of committing crimes, staying in office and then blaming the political right or judges. That was his allegation, not a judicial finding. Xavier Amor was subsequently named as Rivas's replacement as Illa's chief of staff.
Illa defended Rivas and made the exchange personal. He told Aliança Catalana leader Sílvia Orriols, in a statement translated from Spanish, “He has not placed his daughter anywhere; you have.” Orriols had accused Illa's government of offering public works to some of her party's prospective candidates in an effort to bring them into the PSC.
The president also praised Rivas as a person of “great human calibre” and defended his integrity, according to Illa's translated remarks. He said he had never submitted a bill for his children's parents' association to Parliament. Illa cited the example to criticise Garriga over several irregular expenses identified by the Catalan Parliament's Court of Auditors. The Public Prosecutor's Office archived the matter in 2025.
Orriols's daughter had been appointed to an interim post in Ripoll's local police in a process described in the source material as involving a clear conflict of interest. Orriols replied that Illa was confusing an objective selection process with embezzlement. She also referred to his “mistake ordering masks”, in a translation of her words.
The rail network was another focus of the session. Junts per Catalunya and the Comuns raised the Toledo train accident, while Junts pressed the government over the state of Catalonia's infrastructure after a collision in Martorell left a train driver slightly injured.
Comuns leader Jéssica Albiach called for public control of the rail sector and argued that resources should go to trains rather than the proposed El Prat airport expansion or the fourth beltway works. Illa said the airport works would not divert money from rail or increase emissions. He also pointed to Junts's responsibility for the network's condition and its representative on Renfe's board, economist Eduard Gràcia. Illa and Albiach agreed on maintaining public influence at Adif and Renfe.
