The former president of Ciudadanos, Albert Rivera, and the one who was his ‘number two’ in the party, José Manuel Villegas, have left the Martínez-Echevarría law firm, where they worked since March 2020 after leaving politics, as reported by El Confidencial this Monday. Rivera was until now its executive president and Villegas executive vice president and director of the office in Madrid.
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Both expressed on Monday morning through an email to the executive director of the firm, Vicente Morató, their intention to terminate their contracts. At first, from the environment of the former leader of Ciudadanos, they did not explain the reason for advancing his departure – the contract had a duration of five years and they have only served two – and from Martínez-Echevarría, according to El Confidencial, they blamed it on a reaction to the requirement of greater performance that the organization would have transferred to them. “His productivity was reaching worrying levels, well below any reasonable standard,” sources from this office told the newspaper.
Rivera and Villegas’s version differs. As published by El Confidencial this Tuesday, the former leaders of Ciudadanos attribute three breaches of the contract signed in 2020 to the law firm. First, not having recognized Albert Rivera the role of chief executive that was agreed as president of Right Option SAP, the company through which the office operates. Second, not having granted him 5% of the capital of said company. And, thirdly, they allege that the variable committed for past years has not been paid.
In the case of Villegas, his version is that the company has not recognized him as vice president, nor has it granted him 2% of the capital of the aforementioned Right Option SAP, nor has it paid him the variable of past years.
After sending the email to the CEO of the firm early in the morning, the lawyer for the former Ciudadanos leaders spoke with Vicente Morató himself and suggested that an orderly exit be made. The intention of Rivera and Villegas is to reach an agreement with the firm to resolve their departure in an agreed manner.
Albert Rivera and José Manuel Villegas signed for the law firm in March 2020. The one who was ‘number two’ of Albert Rivera in Ciudadanos, where he accompanied him from the beginning in the Parliament of Catalonia, announced that he was leaving his position in the party on November 21, 2019, ten days after Rivera left politics after the debacle suffered by his party in the general elections, where he lost 47 seats.
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