Exactly 15 years ago, just like yesterday, Arantxa Sánchez let tears of pure love flow: dressed in white, she said “yes, I want” to José Santacana. The wedding was held at Peralada Castle (Alt Empordà). This September 12, the other side of the mirror was seen: Arantxa cried again in the presence of the same man, but in the harsh decor of a criminal court. Nothing remains of those promises of love and the smiles that the photographers captured. Arantxa faces the most difficult moment of her life: trying to convince the judge that if she has acted incorrectly over the last ten years, she has, precisely, been influenced and even directed by the man in who swore love
The ex-partner faces a request for four years in prison and compensation of 6.6 million euros due to a complaint filed by the Bank of Luxembourg. The statement of Arantxa Sánchez Vicario was scheduled for next Friday, as was that of her still husband according to the law, José Santacana, both accused of a crime of embezzlement. At the request of his defense, the judge accepted that the ex-tennis player make a statement yesterday to explain that it was her husband who went to the notaries to sign the sales of a real estate estate in Spain and Andorra that no longer remains nothing and the one who received the checks to later deposit them into different accounts. Her lawyer detailed a while before that Santacana had drawn up a capital evasion plan and that she always acted with full confidence in her partner.
The ex-tennis player has shown herself to be a dominated person, practically helpless, who acted under her husband’s orders: according to her version, Santacana started managing his estate at the end of 2009 in place of her father. “He told me that he was in charge, because he had more knowledge of companies and societies. I dedicated myself and continued to dedicate myself to tennis. But I was wrong and that’s why I’m here”, explained Arantxa. And to his lawyer’s questions, he stated conclusively the following: “He decided to act like this; I didn’t want to pay. And yes, he was the one who emptied the accounts in order not to pay the Bank of Luxembourg”. According to his version, it was Santacana who managed, in this way, his accounts in Switzerland.
Visibly nervous, she asked for water to continue her story. “I admit that I was wrong and that I do not agree with what happened. I am collaborating and I have already paid 1,900,000 euros to the BDL”, recalled Arantxa. The golden girl of Spanish tennis explains that she lives on a tight budget and even accepts help from friends to make ends meet: half of her income as a tennis instructor and from her collaborations as commentator in different tournaments are embargoed and diverted to the BDL to reduce a debt that keeps growing due to late interest. Also his earnings as an Olympic medalist. Yesterday we also learned that the Roland Garros champion has filed a lawsuit against her ex in the United States, where they both continue to live, to find out where the rest of her money has gone.
Santacana will declare on Friday, as planned, but in the interview that was published yesterday in the digital version of this newspaper, he said that the story of his ex is a melodramatic fiction: Arantxa does not suffer from financial problems, he says, and if so if it were, it would be due to the high standard of living that is stubborn to maintain. In addition, she revealed that there is an account in the name of an offshore company based in Panama that she owns and where three million euros net were transferred once the associated debts, embargoes and liens were settled to its vast real estate heritage.
