Nothing but manure in the BPA case

“Four years since the outburst of this financial scandal, and yet no judge has been able to issue a sentence.”

More and more it is becoming clear of the dirt, which covers the corruption network within the Banco Privado d’Andorra (BPA) case. The documents belonging to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the United States (FinCEN) and the investigation carried out by the Andorran authorities were never enough to solve the puzzle of these money-laundering accusations involving companies linked to high-level employees and executives from countries in many continents.

The decision made by the Principality’s Institute of Finances (INAF), led by Ramón Lopez, followed a flimsy claim from the FinCEN that resulted in the illegal intervention to the extinct bank entity, which has meant a great cost for the Andorran state. With every piece of news which is published, the state’s image deteriorates further and further in the eyes of the world, while the damages incurred after BPA’s liquidation just keep steadily making their way down, growing like a snowball.

Several judicial deadlines have expired since the unprecedented financial scandal came to be, and still no one has been able to present key witnesses who could have been the foundation of FinCEN’s accusation against BPA. This has caused a judge in the United States to rule the declassification of documents, emails and statements on which the United States’ office of Financial Crimes allegedly based its deliberate way of proceeding.

This is why the Cierco brothers, major BPA shareholders, keep the legal way open in the United States as well as their claim to the Andorran Government, to whom they are demanding a compensation of 300 million euros for the damages incurred, based on the hundreds of clients who were transferred to Vall Banc, the entity created with “healthy assets”, clients who as of today have not yet gotten back their illegally withheld savings.

At the same time, the Andorran Unit of Financial Intelligence (UIFAND), led by Carles Fiñana, used the deceiving reports and audit process performed by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in order to accuse hundreds of clients of money laundering, initiate judicial proceedings and still, four years later, no judge has been able to issue a sentence.The Andorran government’s intention is clear: keep on blocking the accounts for its own benefit.

The UIFAND and the State Agency for Resolution of Banking Institutions (AREB), led by Albert Hinojosa Besolí, are wolves disguised as sheep, and in a Machiavellian combination, they have achieved to retain the legitimate funds from the savers and businessmen who are still living a nightmare. But now that the truth has begun to get noticed, this could reach its end very soon.As of today, there are still one thousand five hundred clients being held in the former BPA, all of them with millionaire amounts.

The resounding and scandalous fall of BPA was caused by the great incompetence, lack of transparency and cover-up by the Andorran financial authorities, led by the AREB and the UIFAND, who acted following orders from powerful groups.Today we know that the way they proceeded was arranged and illegal in terms of lawful processes, against all the clients who did not pass PwC’s audit process.