Professors, staff, coordinators, and students at the Castelldefels Hospitality School in Castelldefels have reported alleged fraudulent use of public subsidies, including forged signatures and 'black' payments. Catalonia's Public Employment Service (SOC) is investigating these claims, which also include accusations of mistreatment, coercion, and abuse of power towards students, many of whom are vulnerable young people.
Over the past two weeks, the SOC has conducted four inspections and interviewed dozens of individuals to determine if public funds allocated to the school, directed by Raimon Martínez, have been misused. Ara spoke with fifteen witnesses who confirmed the alleged irregularities reported to both the SOC and the Labour Inspectorate.
Students Used as Unpaid Labour
Many courses at the school are subsidised, primarily by the SOC, which provided over €850,000 to the school in 2025. To secure these funds, students must attend a minimum of 75% of classes. However, investigations have revealed instances where student attendance signatures were allegedly forged by the school to ensure payment.
"[The director] asked me to sign for a student," an administrative staff member admitted. One teacher explained, "The students have lost valuable time and worked for free; they haven't completed the course nor achieved residency." The complaints also state that Martínez allegedly made unprepared students work in the school's restaurant instead of attending the theoretical and practical classes outlined in their programmes.
"They weren't ready," a professor said. Students were reportedly placed in the restaurant just weeks into their courses, without basic training in areas such as "sanitary issues, food handling, nutrition, or vacuum packing," according to another teacher. A management employee described them as "free labour." One student, who gave up a job for the training to help regularise her status, said: "We worked for him; we weren't doing a course."
Students, some of whom "spoke neither Catalan nor Spanish," were put to work in the kitchen and serving area without any training. They were even reprimanded for their food presentation, despite "no one having taught them how to plate." The student concluded: "We were never a school, but a restaurant."
Unregistered Work and Vulnerable Students
Students also reportedly worked at events for which the school was contracted, including some for public institutions like Castelldefels City Council. They were allegedly paid 'in black' and worked outside their scheduled hours, including weekends, without being registered with Social Security. "If something had happened to the students without being registered, what would have happened?" a teacher asked.
Many students come from vulnerable backgrounds, and for non-Spanish citizens, attending these courses can provide a certificate needed to regularise their residency status. "These are people seeking residency, with social risk," a third professor summarised. In some courses, due to detected problems and non-compliance with SOC requirements, students were left without certificates, creating difficulties in proving residency.
Students also claimed Martínez offered them a school certificate, not a SOC one, if they adapted to the restaurant's hours, which were incompatible with their course schedules. "He told us that those who stayed later would get a certificate. He bought us with a certificate," a student lamented. A joint complaint to the SOC for one course detailed "coercion" to work in the restaurant and fear of "reprisals" from the centre's management.
Students on dual Vocational Training programmes were supposed to receive a monthly payment, but these payments were often delayed for weeks, causing significant hardship for the most vulnerable. "I am very alone; I was working and left it because I saw the training as an opportunity. I have to pay bills; debts don't wait," another student, who did not receive any payment for the first month, criticised.
Substandard Facilities and Previous Issues
Teachers, staff, and students consistently reported student mistreatment. Some were asked to leave without reason, while others were pressured for complaining about conditions. "They kicked me out. Is it because I'm Roma? Because of my ethnicity?" asked one young man who found an alternative professional path with a teacher's help. A teacher reported the coordinator of the teaching staff for referring to students as "pawns" and saying they were "nobody" because they were there thanks to "the subsidy."
All sources consulted highlighted significant deficiencies in the school's materials and facilities. "It does not meet cleanliness or safety requirements. The classrooms are undignified. There were no changing rooms. There are no chambers to separate food properly. The machinery and materials are obsolete," a teacher listed, adding that the kitchen extractor fan did not work properly. Students, who have fainted due to high kitchen temperatures, had no dining area and had to eat outside. To meet computer lab requirements, several witnesses described how the management allegedly faked a video to show more computers than were actually present, many of which were employees' personal laptops. "I don't understand how such a space can be approved," one professor concluded.
The SOC stated that inspections conducted at the centre since its registration in 2024 had not revealed any irregularities. Two inspections in 2025 "did not detect significant incidents, nor were any complaints transmitted by students." However, several complaints have now emerged in recent months. Another reported issue is that classes were sometimes taught not by approved teachers, but by management staff using scripts generated by artificial intelligence, provided by Martínez.
Several individuals stated that the issues at Castelldefels had previously occurred at other entities where Martínez had worked. At least three such instances are known. In one case, a foundation also in Castelldefels, the Generalitat detected irregularities in three training programmes, leading to a suspension of €41,000 in funds after it was found that non-teachers were giving classes or attendance sheets had been manipulated. "I discovered he had deceived us," a board member recalled. "I know his character; I believe everything. I've seen how he manipulated company certificates to send to the SOC," an employee from one of these entities said, citing an example of a person registered without having to work to justify and claim aid.
While the investigation is ongoing, the SOC has asked the school to "refrain from starting new training activities" for now. The service has also assured that it will ensure students are not disadvantaged by the situation.
