Sant Cugat removes 322 registrations after uncovering a fraudulent network

Sant Cugat City Council has removed 322 people from its municipal register after uncovering a network of fraudulent registrations. The investigation began in August, when an unusual increase in registrations was detected, mainly involving citizens of India and Pakistan, who arrived in small groups and presented similar rental contracts, often linked to the same addresses.

In-person inspections confirmed that none of these people actually lived in Sant Cugat. The council, led by Jordi Puigneró and Josep Maria Vallès, acted quickly to close the case and stressed the importance of keeping an accurate register in order to manage public services and resources.

In response, the City Council is working on a stricter new registration protocol. Planned measures include enhanced verification of residence, in-person checks in suspicious cases and an internal alert system to identify repeated patterns in addresses or documents.

This action adds to an earlier purge of more than 4,000 irregular registrations between 2019 and 2023, as part of an effort to guarantee the reliability of the municipal register and prevent similar fraud in the future.