‘Villarjo Affair’ Thwarts BBVA’s Hostile Takeover Bid for Sabadell

Coincidences sometimes play a cruel joke. Launch BBVA’s hostile takeover of the city of Sabadell overlaps in time with the end of a very long investigation into the “BBVA Villarejo case”, which was investigated in the Court for almost six years National.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has just asked Judge Manuel García Castellón to send BBVA to court right now.who has been charged since 2019 with the ongoing crime of bribery (hiring a serving police officer for private contracts) and revealing and disclosing secrets.

The letter was published on May 17, just a week after the takeover bid was announced, but it has not yet appeared.

According to prosecutor Alejandro Cabaleiro, The investigation revealed “credible and indisputable” guilt of the financial entity as a legal entity.

What is revealed in this case if BBVA knew that police officer Jose Manuel Villarejo was behind the company Cenyt, which carried out intelligence work for the bank for 13 yearsand if he knew about allegedly illegal means used to obtain informationsuch as intercepting calls to businessmen, authorities and journalists, spying on people and accessing sensitive information from police bases.

The prosecutor’s office believes that BBVA bears criminal liability in this case because It has been proven that the “crime prevention and control mechanisms” of the financial structure have failed.

This point is key. In 2023, the National Court released CaixaBank and Repsol, as well as their presidents, from any criminal liability.for past orders from Cenyt.

The judge found that they had a strong culture of compliance and effective controls to prevent employees and managers from committing crimes.

According to prosecutor Alejandro Cabaleiro, this did not happen in this case, but rather BBVA acted “directly under the instructions of senior management” and with the “clear tacit consent” of its then-president Francisco Gonzalez.also investigated.

Even Carlos Torrescurrent President of BBVA and CEO for most of the activities, nor Onur Genchgeneral director of the bank, They are on the list of 18 accused. Most of them are former managers. But in the main organizational structure of the group, three have been studied: Joaquin Gortari, Juan Azua and Paul Tobin. The prosecutor only asks that Gortari be brought to trial.

Judge Manuel Garcia Castellon must decide in the coming weeks whether to bring a case or send it to court against all or part of the accused. The second scenario is the most likely, since Anti-Corruption is convinced of the guilt of many of those under investigation. The magistrate is just waiting for the end of the examination to take this step. Everything will be decided in a few months because he plans to retire in October when he reaches the maximum legal age of 72.

All this court noise fuels the climate despite BBVA’s takeover bid It is reflected in the government, the Generalitat of Catalonia and Valencia, trade unions and a significant part of business associations.

BBVA’s defense, carried out by Garrigues, maintained throughout these years that not a single senior manager of the bank knew that Commissioner José Manuel Villarejo was the real owner of Cenyt.. Bank allows only violations of internal contracting rules (Cenyt payments were credited to the shareholders meeting account).

The outcome of the takeover bid will be clear around November. Thus, long before any possible oral proceedings take place. What will happen in the coming months is that The private accusations (businessman Luis del Rivero, Miguel Sebastian and Carlos Arenillas) will result in very harsh accusations against BBVA and its directors. Bye Sabadell shareholders are deciding whether to sell their securities in this takeover bid to become investors in BBVA..

If the bank is found guilty in this case, it faces a financial penalty. During these nearly six years of criminal investigation, neither business nor price suffered from this criminal investigation. However, financial sources assure that if the bank is convicted, a number of investment funds will be forced to close positions, as provided for by their internal regulations in such cases. AND This scenario could even partially jeopardize the success of the takeover bid.