The BBVA representative declared yesterday as accused for several hours before the judge of the National Court and the Anticorruption prosecutors investigating the Villarejo case . The head of the Legal Services of BBVA Spain, Adolfo Fraguas , designated by the entity as his representative in the case, answered all the questions of the magistrate instructor and the Public Ministry. According to sources close to the investigation, the bank discharged responsibility for the dealings with the police jailed in the previous management team, headed by Francisco González . The same sources indicated that the explanations of the bank and its director diverged in some points and that the entity wanted to release ballast from the previous stage.

The FG itself - as Gonzalez is commonly known - after declaring at the Hearing on Monday, defended the “full” and “exemplary” actions of his team and restricted the scope of the Villarejo case to “some irregular conduct of an individual nature”. What BBVA and FG did agree on was the main head of the dealings with José Manuel Villarejo to the former head of Security of the entity Julio Corrochano .

González acknowledged to the judge that when Sacyr tried to take control of the bank he asked for an investigation into the real estate. But he denied that he indicated that a company in Villarejo should be hired and that the tasks included various illegalities. It would have been Corrochano, also a former police command, who would have decided to entrust himself to Villarejo, in a performance that could also splash the then head of Corrochano, Ángel Cano.

The current relationship between Francisco González and the entity he presided over for 18 years is bad and the legal defense of both in separate piece number 9 of the Tandem case is carried by different teams. According to legal sources, in his responses yesterday before the judge the bank representative did not directly attack the former president, but he referred to him many of the explanations that were claimed.

Fraguas maintained before Judge Manuel García Castellón and prosecutors Miguel Serrano and Javier Stampa that "no responsibility for the entity is derived from the investigated facts." At the request of Anti-Corruption, the judge accused the bank as a legal entity for the crimes of bribery, discovery and disclosure of secrets and corruption in business.

In a statement released after the statement, the entity affirms that the performance of its representative "is another example of BBVA's commitment to collaborate with Justice." And insists that since the beginning "has provided documentation" and "proactively transferred the information obtained in the forensic investigation conducted by Garrigues , Uría Menéndez and PwC ".

The entity says that "the judicial process remains subject to summary secrecy, which limits the information that the entity may publicly disseminate on this case, given the requirement not to interfere in the judicial investigation." Finally, the bank recalls that the president of BBVA, Carlos Torres , has insisted that his priority is «the clarification of the facts collaborating with Justice».

Among those charged in the investigation for bribery crimes and disclosure of secrets is Torres's senior advisor ( Senior Advisor to the Chairman ), Juan Asúa . Like the rest of executives or former executives, they refused to respond, claiming that the cause was under secret. Apart from the accused Béjar, who began collaborating in the face of the risk of a high bond being imposed, the only ones who have agreed to respond to the judge and the prosecutors have been FG and BBVA.

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  • Waterhouse Price
  • José Manuel Villarejo
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