He alleges that he is waiting for the AN to resolve an appeal by the bank against the last imputation
MADRID, 26 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The legal representative of BBVA has availed himself of his right not to testify during the appearance set for this Wednesday by the judge investigating the alleged illegal commissions by the bank to the now retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, within the framework of what is emerging already as the home stretch of this separate piece.
The head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 6, Manuel García Castellón, had summoned BBVA’s legal representative for 10:00 a.m. on October 26 as part of his investigations into the bank’s contracts with the Villarejo business group, CENYT, a relationship that would have started in 2004 and would have extended until 2017 and for which the former commissioner would have pocketed more than 10 million euros.
However, the legal sources consulted by Europa Press indicate that the legal representative has chosen to remain silent, to which he is entitled to act on behalf of BBVA, which is charged.
According to the aforementioned sources, the legal representative has explained that he was not going to testify because BBVA appealed García Castellón’s decision to also investigate the bank for the “new facts” to which he extended his investigations in July and is still pending the Criminal Chamber of the National High Court (AN) responds.
García Castellón advanced in July that he would undertake a new round of declarations in which he would include the bank in order “to be able to determine the interest of BBVA, as a legal person, or of its employees, in a personal capacity, to commission the work from CENYT” on almost 70 people to whom he offered to appear as injured.
Then, the instructor extended the investigation to put the magnifying glass on some “new facts” found in another separate room (‘Kitchen’) where two police documents were located that would reflect the content of Antonio Bonilla’s mobile phone – a former police officer who collaborated with CENYT–, from which it would be deduced that BBVA had also hired his company, ANBYCOL.
BBVA believes that these trades arose as a result of an investigation carried out behind its back, which is why it maintains that said inquiries are null. The instructor rejected this thesis, clarifying that “there has been no secret investigation”, but the bank once again appealed to the Criminal Chamber last September.
The judge has summoned several BBVA employees for next month and on December 15 he will hear former bank president Francisco González, who offered to testify again, despite the fact that he already did so in 2019. His defense argued that then the cause was secret and it is now when he has been able to have knowledge of everything investigated.
He also called Bonilla, a BBVA employee and several police officers to court but, like the legal representative of the financial institution, they accepted their right not to testify.
The magistrate was able to question José López, a witness who “was identified as the BBVA employee who prepared the entity’s reports in response to SEBPLAC’s information requirements.”
Legal sources tell this news agency that the investigators will wait to take statements from the people already summoned to decide later on the continuity of the investigation phase.
