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The judge of the National Court investigating the ‘Tandem’ macrocause, Manuel García-Castellón, has decided keep the former president of BBVA Francisco González charged for an alleged crime of unfair administration. It would have incurred when using resources from the bank to obtain registration information about a farm that you were interested in buying privately.
In an order issued this Wednesday, García-Castellón has rejected the appeal for reform presented by González, with which he wanted the head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 6 to revoke his initial decision to charge him with a new crime within the framework of this separate piece of ‘Tandem’. The former president of BBVA was already being investigated for bribery and revealing of secrets.
The magistrate blamed González unfair administration for, supposedly, having used BBVA resources for an “exclusively personal” purpose – “assessing the acquisition of a property in a private capacity” -, thus acceding to what the anti-corruption prosecutors Miguel Serrano and Alejandro Cabaleiro had proposed to him in a written last July.
González challenged this last accusation claiming that the facts in question were not specified, which in any case would have prescribed and that, furthermore, since there was no prior complaint of the allegedly injured parties – in this case, the bank – they could not be prosecuted.
García-Castellón answers one by one to these arguments to dismantle them. Thus, it recalls that “we are in an embryonic procedural phase” in which the “full determination” of the facts is not necessary. On the contrary, he points out, it will be as a result of the instruction when a “precise factual account” can be constructed.
Suspicions
In addition, it emphasizes that, from what has been investigated so far, “a precise suspicious operation in relation to the valuation of the acquisition of a private property “.
In this sense, it indicates that “the appellant himself places the steps to locate a farm in 2013 and 2014” and “The existing indications suggest that these services were paid with BBVA funds”. “Therefore, they would be specified (the facts), even in a generic way,” he says.
González accused the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office of promoting a “prospective investigation” against him. Regarding this, the judge responds that it cannot be considered this way because the accusations for unfair administration are part of a broader instruction that covers “the plurality of contracts” of BBVA with CENYT, the business group of retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo.
In this sense, García-Castellón shows that, from all the investigations in this separate piece 9, “it is inferred that acts with a criminal appearance have been committed, by virtue of which the CENYT Group was commissioned and such services were paid for with social funds “.
Essential
Regarding the expiration given by González, the magistrate emphasizes that since he is in an initial phase of the investigation “at this time It is not possible to temporarily limit the services interested by the investigated“.
Apostille at this point the instructor who “it is essential that a statement is taken on this point, in order to complete the factual account“Although it does not agree to summon him for a new appearance. Anti-corruption requested it, but when charging González with the crime of unfair administration, the judge limited himself to informing him of his right to testify,” if he deems it appropriate. “
Finally, regarding the need for a prior complaint that does not exist in this case, García-Castellón states that “the complaint was not necessary if it affected the general interests or a plurality of people“.
In this case, the judge clarifies, “we find that BBVA is a highly relevant banking entity, listed on the IBEX-35, with a multitude of shareholders and that it is one of the main banks in this country.”
Consequently, he reasons, “the reputational risk of such conduct does affect, in a direct way, to the general interests of the former, as well as to the general interest “,” so the existence of a prior complaint would not be necessary. “
In fact, reputational damage was one of the reasons given by González. According to him, the steps he asked his then chief of staff and current BBVA audit chief, Joaquín Gortari, to take in relation to said farm “are justified in safeguarding the good name of the entity“, which, he argued, could be affected if there were any conflict of interest in that eventual sale.
In this piece 9 of ‘Tandem’, García-Castellón investigates the work that BBVA commissioned the Villarejo companies for different projects at least between 2004 and 2017. For these services, the bank would have paid the now retired police officer more than 10 million euros.
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