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BBVA has decided to stir and challenge the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office after the criticism received and how to interrogate his envoy, Adolfo Fraguas . In a brief presented last week at the National Court, to which EL MUNDO has had access, the bank maintains that the Prosecutor's Office has punctured bone, despite the fact that it charges the bank with serious crimes. In his opinion, Anticorruption has not gathered "any evidence that any criminal offense had been committed in the provision of Cenyt's services (...) it cannot be assumed that any action related to Cenyt is necessarily criminal, for the mere fact of be said company linked to Mr. Villarejo ".

He also shows irritation about how the Prosecutor's Office, represented in the case by Ignacio Stampa and Miguel Serrano, interrogated Fraguas, his legal representative, last November, departing from what the objective should be - to verify if the bank had adequate controls - and disregarding that "he could have accepted his right not to declare."

"The interrogation made to the representative of BBVA did not deal with - more than a minor part on the last day of the declaration as recognized by the Prosecutor's Office - on the fact itself." And he adds: "What the BBVA representative did not do was give the reason to the Public Prosecutor in all his questions. For a very simple reason: cooperating does not mean accepting everything the accusation intends to hold ."

The bank thus agrees to turn against prosecutors as it was last week by former BBVA president Francisco González , who accused them of relying on "mere evidence and conjecture" without rigor.

BBVA's brief does not defend González, but denies that the hiring of Villarejo is "a criminal gift" and discards espionage evidence: "There is no evidence that privacy or privacy is violated in the provision of investigation services by Cenyt third party rights. "

Ratify your performance

The bank also comes to the prosecution's criticism of its lack of collaboration: "We have contributed in less than a year, through 23 writings , more than 8,300 files (...) including multiple documents that had not been requested in no requirement. "

And rejects lack of reaction after the outbreak of the scandal. He reveals that he opened several files to managers: "The performance of eight BBVA executives and employees was disciplined and sufficient evidence was found to justify the initiation of a total of five disciplinary records. In addition, two records of suitability were initiated." Of all of them, two ended up with layoffs, as it has transpired so far. A disciplinary one, the one corresponding to the former head of Risks, Antonio Béjar , and another of suitability, referred to the former head of regulatory compliance, Eduardo Arbizu .

Among those reported were also the former chief of staff of González and current head of internal audit, Joaquín Gortari , and the head of contentious legal services, Eduardo Ortega , although both achieved the dismissal. The bank states, however, that this general internal investigation is still officially open: "It is still ongoing."

Charge against Bejar

The BBVA dedicates part of its letter to justify the fulminating dismissal of Béjar and assures that he lied to the judge when he said that he had nothing to do with the hiring of Villarejo to recover delinquent credits of brick tycoons. "The exculpatory allegation of Mr. Béjar is not credible ... it is uncertain," the bank assures the head of the Court, Manuel García Castellón. He says that only Béjar could agree on the large "success premiums" granted to Villarejo and that he was responsible for complying with the supplier contracting procedure. Béjar, fired by BBVA "for very serious infractions," says he did what he was ordered.

What the bank does admit is that it did not really initiate an internal investigation until January 2019 and not since May 2018 as Francisco González has always defended. "At the end of January 2019, the internal investigation itself began with the hiring of PwC," said the entity, coinciding with the effective inauguration of the current president, Carlos Torres . What González had previously promoted is not called research, but rather "compilation and analysis" of documentation.

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