The “macro-trial” for fraud in Valladolid against 61 defendants closes its first day with 33 compliances

The case initially included 63 defendants, two of whom died, although the trial, which seeks Scene from the Valladolid Fair until November 12, it has started with 56 appearinggiven that two other accused were already wanted and captured due to the inability to locate them and others three other people left also this Thursday in the Provincial Court, which agreed to declare one of them in default.

The opening day of the marathon, which began at 11 a.m., ended late in the afternoon with the officialization of the agreement reached between 33 accusedthe prosecutor in the case and the three private charges brought–BBVA, Santander and Caixabank–, a procedure that the president of the court intended to hold early in the morning but which she had to postpone until after- noon at the request of the public accusation and certain defenses, because the said parties understood that it was first necessary to expose the nullity problems of defenders since the same, if confirmed by the court, could also affect the accused’s confessions.

Thus, the hearing began with a first phase of processing requests for documentary evidence and collecting new evidence from the defenders, which were integrated into the process, and then continued with another no less tedious and long, that of previous questions, in which legal representatives of suspected fraudsters–people appear 63 lawyers--They requested, among other things, the cancellation of the actions due to the “lack of active quality” of the banking entities involved in the case.

Banking secrecy

And a good number of defenders consider that these entities should have clarified to the court if they continue be the holder of the credits granted at the time–the economic damage was estimated at approximately 800,000 euros–either they gave them away or sold them to other entities, since in the latter case it would be the companies that acquired these loans that would be the real losers.

Among the cancellations put forward by the defenders are also those relating to the search carried out by the police in the offices of a building located at number 26 Claudio Moyano Street, where the accused allegedly, They falsified the documents which they then presented to the banking entities, as well as the judgment of April 8, 2016 authorizing the Economic Crime Brigade to access the accounts of the accused, “thus violating the right to banking secrecy”, as expected, in statements collected by Europa Press, media lawyer Marcos García Montes, who was the first to open the round during the preliminary questions phase

But in addition, another defense extended the nullity to the order of opening of the oral trial itself, issued on March 17, 2021, because it, according to it, caused an obvious “helplessness” of all the accused because it included, without any justification, the crime of money laundering for which none of them was questioned during the investigation phase.

Each of the questions was refuted by public and private accusations – Carrefour and the ING bank did not appear in the case and were excluded from the criminal action – although the court, due to the complexity of the case in dispute, agreed to resolve all issues during the sentence execution phase.

The case

Broadly speaking, the legal proceedings investigate a criminal group, led by four of the defendants, who agreed to carry out a series of operations consisting of apply for and obtain loans of different banking entities, through third parties, justifying their economic solvency with documents that do not reflect reality, in order, in general, the purchase and sale of used vehicles.

These third parties, in payment for their intervention, received part of the money and the rest was pocketed by the group made up of the ringleaders.