The stake lost by Garrigues’ star lawyer in the case of BBVA and Villarejo

After almost four years of research, BBVA He is running out of wild cards in the Villarejo case game. The entity chaired by Carlos Torres lost a key stake last week with which it intended block a line of investigation into alleged spying on customers and employees. Two months after the possible closure of the case (January 29), this leaves the bank with fewer defense options. As of today, BBVA has one ordeal left: clinging to the example of Iberdrola, Repsol and CaixaBank, other companies to which the Court disputed for the hiring of Villarejo.

At stake is the strategy designed by the bank’s main legal adviser, former prosecutor Helena Prieto, from Garrigues, who since 2019 has set the path that the entity should follow inside and outside the Court. The success or failure of it will have a great impact for the bank, starting with the bank itself. board of directorswhat could take responsibility in the event that they have caused damage to the bank due to a wrong strategy, according to financial sources consulted by this means. In the event that an oral trial is opened, the European Central Bank (ECB) will review it thoroughly, according to them.

Varapalo for BBVA: the Court rejects a key appeal in the Villarejo case

J. Z.

The bank will not have it easy for the court to buy the comparison with Iberdrola, Repsol and CaixaBank. Thus, the first one was released by prescription -five years- as it was a 2011 contract, something that first could not benefit BBVA, which continued to hire Villarejo and his partners until 2018. And the Court closed the case of the Catalan bank and the oil company for having a good crime prevention model, even if it did not detect a contract with Cenyt, the company of the commissioner Faced with them, BBVA did not have him, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, and was paying Villarejo for a decade, in which he billed more than 10 million.

The bank has a lot at stake in this case, because of the managers and employees it has accused, and by the responsibility of the legal person. To avoid the latter, BBVA will have to prove that it had a robust crime prevention model —which was violated by some employees— and that it has collaborated with the court from the first minute. The latter has been questioned on more than one occasion by the judge and prosecutors.

Carlos Torres, president of BBVA, and his predecessor, Francisco González. (EFE/Luis Tejido)

This is the environment in which BBVA faces the final stage of the case, which could conclude on January 29, and to which it could add an additional difficulty: the voluntary declaration of its former president Francisco Gonzalez (FG). The Galician banker, president between 2000 and 2018, was singled out by the entity for allegedly using Villarejo’s contracts for his own benefit. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that FG respond to the bank with poisoned darts in his statement of December 15.

This threat adds to the failure of the recently lost resource. The entity tried unsuccessfully to block an investigation that revolves around a contract that the bank gave to the Anbycol company, of Villarejo’s former partner Antonio Bonilla, which allegedly served to obtain confidential information from clients and employees at the beginning of 2018. The documentation that Anticorruption has in its hand indicates that this company obtained classified information from dozens of people in police bases.

‘Forensic’ on trial

One of the things that most shocked the prosecutors and lawyers in this case is that BBVA appealed against this investigation after having carried it out himself two years ago. Thus, the entity commissioned PwC, through Garrigues and Uría Menéndez, to analyze the contract with Anbycol. The result was that “the hiring of Anbycol has not complied with the provisions of the BBVA Purchasing Regulations.” Even so, they did not commission PwC to go further and search for emails linked to the case. Some of them referred to information received by the “restricted access” entity.

Judicial sources believe that BBVA could have “looked the other way in this investigation” while promoting others against former employees such as FG, the former director of Risks Antonio Béjar and the former director of Security Julio Corrochano. It coincides, these sources recall, that the contract affects the area led by Torres’ former right-hand man, Ricardo Forcano, who between 2016 and 2018 was responsible for the Talent and Culture area. In fact, there are workers from his former department accused of him. Consulted by this means, Forcano points out that he “does not know” the accused.

Judge and jury? The former Garrigues prosecutor to whom BBVA entrusts its future in the Villarejo case

Jorge Zuloaga

Along with this front of the investigation, the last week has also left a round of statements from employees of the Accounting area, in which some professionals stated that they could not review Cenyt’s invoices because they did not have authorization to do soaccording to Europa Press.

Another potential problem for BBVA is the letter that the lawyer for the former president of Sacyr Luis del Rivero sent a few days ago to the Court, in which he recalls that the former Director of Communication Javier Ayuso acknowledged that there are emails sent between bank employees in which the maneuvers to stop the assault from Sacyr to the bank, for which Villarejo was hired. These e-mails they have not been put on the table so far, therefore, Del Rivero requests access to them.

This request, FG’s statement and BBVA’s refusal to testify about Anbycol raise the question of whether, finally, there will be a new extension in the case. It could happen if the bank asks to be summoned again to clarify the 2018 contract, something that it did not do in November due to the confidence of its lawyers in winning the appeal before the Hearing. For this reason, part of The lawyers in the case are already betting on a new extension, of three monthswhich would extend the case until spring.

After almost four years of research, BBVA He is running out of wild cards in the Villarejo case game. The entity chaired by Carlos Torres lost a key stake last week with which it intended block a line of investigation into alleged spying on customers and employees. Two months after the possible closure of the case (January 29), this leaves the bank with fewer defense options. As of today, BBVA has one ordeal left: clinging to the example of Iberdrola, Repsol and CaixaBank, other companies to which the Court disputed for the hiring of Villarejo.