The former president of Banco Popular Ángel Ron has defended that the bank’s ratios were relaxed, allowing a capital increase in 2016 and that the accounts faithfully reflected the true situation of the bank. He has done so in an appeal against the decision of the judge of the National Court José Luis Calama to propose to take him to trial, along with twelve other managers and the consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), for crimes of defrauding investors and forgery accounting for the 2016 capital increase.
Ron rejects the instructor’s claim that investors went into the expansion “deceived, as the financial statements of that year and 2015 did not reflect the true picture of the balance sheet and the assets”.
In his writing, the ex-banker notes that investors were offered “truthful” information. In addition, he criticizes that the judge’s interlocutory order was issued after more than six years of research, “in the development of which abundant research material has been provided”. His lawyer defends that in the course of the case “an infinite number” of statements -testimonial and researched- have been obtained, abundant documentary evidence, as well as expert reports provided both by the parties and by the supervisory bodies.
“Nevertheless, the fact that the judge has systematically denied the ratifications of the experts provided” by them, as explained by the defense lawyer, is striking. He insists that the case should be filed due to “the absence of any indication of criminal activity” in its management. Also, Ron regrets that the magistrate is based “exclusively on retrospective, opportunistic and conniving criteria with the inertia of a procedure, which has ignored the signs and evidence of discharge and legality that supported the entire management of the entity”.
Judge Calama has closed the investigation because he considers that he already has enough evidence to bring the former president of the People to trial for approving a capital increase after a report by the Audit Commission made without any detailed written study that could be subject to debate. According to the instructor, the bank would have hidden 2.5 billion euros in losses. It will be the Criminal Chamber of the National Court that will ultimately decide whether this matter should go to trial.
On the other hand, another judge of the National Court, Santiago Pedraz, has filed another open case against the former president of the Popular for another extension, that of 2012. In this case, the magistrate does rely on the reports from the Bank of Spain, which affirms that it endorsed the operation and that the prospectus reflected the faithful image of the entity, in addition to contributing to the smooth running of the bank until its dissolution in 2017. The judge has already to try to file this case, but the Court ordered him to carry out further proceedings, which he has not done because he concludes that the latter “do not serve to avoid or exclude criminal evidence”.
