The former banker offered to testify again after his appearance almost three years ago
MADRID, 5 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The judge of the National High Court (AN) Manuel García Castellón has summoned Francisco González on November 2 so that, as the former president of BBVA had requested, he testifies again as a defendant for the alleged illegal orders that the bank would have made to the now retired Commissioner José Manuel Villarejo under his mandate.
González asked in July to give a statement, despite the fact that he already appeared on November 18, 2019, arguing that the investigations were secret at the time and it is now that he has been able to learn of everything investigated. The head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 6, for his part, agreed to listen to the former banker again but a date had yet to be set, something he has already done, according to legal sources consulted by Europa Press.
In his brief, González’s defense explained that, although in the statement made almost three years ago he answered the questions of the judge and the prosecutor, despite the fact that the case was secret, due to “his strong commitment to collaborate with the Justice “, at this time, after having made progress in the investigations, it is in the interest of the client’s right to testify again.
Legal sources close to González then indicated to this news agency that the request both to testify voluntarily and responded to the attitude that the former president of BBVA has “always” had of “full collaboration with the Justice”, in order that ” 100% clarification of any doubt about the correct performance of the Bank under his Presidency”.
García Castellón accepted González’s offer in the car with which he agreed to a new extension of the investigation, precisely, to undertake another round of statements that will begin next week.
González is being investigated for alleged crimes of bribery and disclosure of secrets, although the Criminal Chamber lifted his accusation of unfair administration, upholding the appeal of the former president of BBVA against the judge’s decision to follow the criteria of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, which saw this possible illicit in the alleged use of the bank to obtain information about a farm that he was interested in buying privately.
The summons directs this separate piece of the ‘Villarejo case’, number 9, towards the final stretch, since the aforementioned sources point out that the intention of the investigators is that González’s be the last statement before ending the phase of instruction.
Meanwhile, the instructor will put the magnifying glass on the “new facts” that led him to prolong his investigations, related to the hiring of ANBYCOL, the company of former police officer Antonio Bonilla, identified by the judicial investigation as one of Villarejo’s collaborators, reason for which he has sat on the defendant’s bench in the first trial of the commissioner for his private business.
These “new facts” have come to swell a case where García Castellón examines BBVA’s contracts with the Villarejo business group, CENYT, for different projects –presumably illegal– at least between 2004 and 2017, some jobs for which the entity would have paid the commissioner more than 10 million euros.
