Swindlers of BPA fear – Massive Flight of Capital

The blocking of accounts for thousands of clients around the world, is an action that is one hundred percent illegal and criminal.

Through an action that is one hundred percent illegal and criminal, the Government of Andorra has blocked the bank accounts of 27 thousand clients of Banca Privada de Andorra (BPA), following a complaint filed by the United States Treasury Department for the alleged linking of some clients for laundering money proceeding from organized crime in China, Russia, Venezuela and Mexico –  accusations that were withdrawn as of this month of March.

Despite that United States renewed the report as positive one year later, the BPA administration has refused to unblock the accounts, suspected that they want to sell the entity ‘for its value in gold’ and by releasing these accounts there would be a massive escape of capital with the subsequent bankruptcy of BPA and its subsidiaries.

After the indictment and after one year of investigation, BPA was cleared as there was no clear evidence that money laundering had taken place within the bank. Although the Government of Andorra had assured already from the beginning that the deposits and the solvency of the bank would not be at risk during the intervention, it has now been confirmed that it has negatively affected thousands of client accounts world-wide.

The affected clients, which have already filed a collective complaint (222 clients) through the law firm Cremades – Calvo Sotelo, ensure that the current managers are not the authorities nor the government to determine the blocking of their accounts and to condition any withdrawals to the ridiculous maximum amount of 2.500 euros per week, without being able to access the totality of their rightfully owned savings.

The story about the intervention of BPA has for the first time taken an unexpected turn now that the clients themselves have decided to demand legal responsibilities from the Andorran Administration for its involvement and management of the liquidation of the entity, because according to the legal report, only three irregular clients where found within the entity, which is irrelevant to continue keeping thousands of accounts frozen.

The US Anti-Laundering agency FinCen withdrew its report and remark issued in March last year that had triggered the protocol 311 and initiated the intervention of BPA and its Spanish subsidiary Banco Madrid. Without giving any further explanations into why BPA is no longer a threat to the financial system, regulators ‘shelve’ a dramatic case, maintaining the uncertainty of the clients towards knowing what will happen with their savings.

The filed complaint, which could prosper positively in a short period of time – according to experts in international law – is towards the Principality of Andorra for the dismantling of one of the most important banks in the country without any apparent justification, through which 366 million euros is being claimed.

Already from start, the response from the Andorran Government was completely arbitrary and their course of actions disproportionate, since it did not even have a law concerning bank intervention in place and went on to create a decree in just five days to be able to block all accounts. Independently of the report by the US regulator, which never gave any explanations to the basis of its conclusions.

Another anomaly in the control taking of BPA were the previous discussions between FinCen and the Andorran regulators leading to the report and notice. According to the complainants, this report should have never been issued and even less applied. It has been requested on several occasions from the State Agency for Resolution of Banking Institutions (AREB) to display and provide the content of these communications. However, the agency has refused.

The victims are demanding explanations on why an entity that was compliant with all the rules and protocols on a national and European level, was intervened overnight and then arbitrarily blocked the entire patrimony of its clients.

This such an aggressive action that violates the constitutional right of private property, has put at risk both the image and the credibility of a country like Andorra.

What is true in this financial Calvary, is that these bandits have dragged the clients into a bottomless pit, since a large number of investors and entrepreneurs have lost all their assets, such as homes, businesses and properties, and many have reached the border to suicide, having to face the insolvency and the frustration of not being able to recover their money.