Abengoa the criminal investigation has started
PRESS RELEASE
CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS COMMENCE AGAINST THE PERSONS AND COMPANIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BANKRUPTCY AND ASSET AVOIDANCE OF ABENGOA SA
THE NATIONAL COURT HAS OPENED PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS FOR THE COMPLAINT FILED BY IURIS&FACTOR ON BEHALF OF THE AFFECTED INVESTORS
For six months ago, when Iuris&Factor accepted the assignment to uncover the criminal background of the asset avoidance of the company ABENGOA SA, currently dissolved and in liquidation, we have been working in defense of the interests of our clients, currently 538, plus the last ones, 32, and those who will join us.
Our clients are small savers who, trusting in the news of solvency spread by the members of Abengoa’s Board, invested part or all their savings in this Spanish multinational company, a leader in the renewable energy sector and with a promising future.
BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE PUNISHABLE ACTS
The recent history of the millionaire losses of all minority shareholders, which, specifically and for our clients, exceed 31,000,000 euros, is the history of a maneuver to decapitalize the company and pass the profitable lines of business to other companies, subsidiaries, snatching control, which has culminated, unfortunately, in a successful way.
It all started after the financial restructuring of the company, which involved the assumption of the loss of value of the free float of 95%, i.e. of the investors who acquired their shares on the stock exchange, and the transfer of certain assets to newly created companies, which were finally Abengoa Abenewco 2 SA, Abengoa Abenewco 2 Bis SA and Abengoa Abenewco 1 SA; but maintaining a large part of the liabilities in Abengoa SA, favoring certain creditors, to the detriment of the interests that institutionally should have been protected, Abengoa SA and its minority investors; that if they were harmed is because others were benefited, granting them financial instruments to take over the ownership of profitable companies of Abengoa SA.
Wills were bought and at least a framework was prepared with one objective, to take over most of Abengoa’s assets, stripping the minority shareholders of what belonged to them as such. Now, after Abengoa’s bankruptcy, its dissolution and liquidation, the value that Abengoa has on the subsidiaries that hold the profitable business activities, has been reflected in the Plan for its liquidation in bankruptcy, and it is textually 0.00 euros.
In addition, the complaint reflects many other facts with criminal relevance, such as the discordance of the minutes of the votes that approved the restructurings, the delivery of assets to creditors and their resale in a short time with impudent capital gains, the payment of favors to certain directors, the attempt to sell Abengoa’s assets to insolvent companies, in which even one of them was paid for the simple fact of bidding.
The purpose of this asset avoidance to the detriment of Abengoa’s owners is described, including the so-called Vellocino I and II plans, which sought to obtain gold at the expense of the misery of others: the taking of corporate agreements to their own detriment and to the benefit of third parties.
Other facts are presented for investigation, such as the dubious signature that has marked the course of the company, in particular, the request for bankruptcy; the privileged information of which certain directors have prevailed, the sanctions of the CNMV for not presenting the company’s annual accounts, unheard of in any country in our environment, with the purpose that third parties could not know the reality of the company causing error, by deception, to investors.
And many other facts that are recounted at length and in detail in more than 200 pages of the lawsuit and that from their combined reading can only be inferred the existence of one or more schemes to enrich themselves with the destruction of Abengoa SA, taking with them the assets and hopes of those who had trusted in the promises of the directors who encouraged those who gullibly believed them to invest, under the slogan that Abengoa would rise again like the Phoenix Bird.
Well, now that justice is being sought, we hope that the investors affected by such events will rise again from the ashes, in the sense that Isidoro de Sevilla described in his account of the glory and myth of the Phoenix Bird.
CRIMES AND PERPETRATORS
This disregard for small savers and investors, not protected by our regulators, who should ensure transparency and legality in the operations of listed companies, has led, in our opinion, to the commission of the following crimes, which, although the investigation is ongoing, others may be defined, as well as the perpetrators and their degree of participation in each type, and they are, allegedly:
(I) Offense of forgery of a commercial document by a private individual, (ii) offense of procedural fraud, (iii) corporate offense in its modality of falsification of annual accounts that should reflect the economic situation of the company, (iv) corporate offense in its modality of imposing abusive agreements or, alternatively, (v) corporate offense in its modality of imposing harmful agreements by fictitious majority, (vi) corporate crime for infringement of corporate and participation rights, (vii) crime of unfair administration, (viii) crime of concealment of assets, (ix) crime of punishable insolvency, (x) crime of corruption among individuals, (xi) crime of defrauding investors or, alternatively, (xii) crime of swindling and (xiii) crime of forgery of private document.
For its verification, in addition to the documents accompanying the complaint, we have requested more than fifty diligences to be carried out, and additionally we have requested precautionary measures of various kinds.
The perpetrators, regardless of their degree of participation and type of crime, are presumed to be:
Mr. Gonzalo Urquijo Fernández, Mr. José Luís del Valle Doblado, Mr. Javier Targhetta Roza, Mr. Manuel Castro Aladro, Mr. José Wahnon Levy, Mr. Ramón Sotomayor Jauregui, Ms. Pilar Cavero Mestre, Mr. Daniel Alaminos Echarri, Mr. Josep Piqué Camps, Ms. Mercedes Gracia Díez, Mr. José Borrell Fontelles, Ms. Alicia Velarde Valiente, Mr. Antonio Fornieles Melero, Mr. Manuel Arranz Alonso, Mr. Albertus Meerstadt, Mr. John Charles Pope, Mr. Francisco Javier Bañón Treviño, Mr. Juan Pablo López-Bravo, Ms. Margarida Almeida, Mr. Mario Pestaña Sartorius, Mr. Joao Paulo Videira, Mr. Jean-Paul Tarud-Kubron, Mr. Joshua Phillips, Mr. Javier García-Carranza Benjumea, the trading company BANCO SANTANDER SA, the trading company ABENGOA ABENEWCO 1 SA and the trading company TERRAMAR CAPITAL LLC.
And the opening of the civil liability piece has been requested, as well as precautionary measures and more than fifty proceedings to be carried out.
ADMISSION AND INITIATION OF PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS
All the above is explained in detail in the complaint, of more than 50,000 pages with documents, which has been filed before the Central Court of Instruction of the Audiencia Nacional.
The complaint has been admitted in the Central Court of Instruction number 3, Diligencias Previas 68/2022.
This type of crime, which affects the credibility of our economic and market system, against consumers and with international ramifications, can only be clarified through a forceful criminal investigation, which is why we are satisfied that it will be carried out by the Central Court of Instruction 2.
If the situation is restored, in the event of a conviction and to the satisfaction of those affected, it will mean continuing to maintain confidence and credibility in our institutions and socio-economic structures, the basis of the free market, whose fundamental legal framework is protected by our Constitution.
Iuris&Factor is a law firm, which is committed to the defense of small savers and investors who trusted in our stock market system, and have been defrauded, having lost all their savings, and seeing how others, at their expense, have enriched themselves with impunity and illicitly.
We dedicate our efforts to recover the economic damages suffered by those who have been deceived, through the exercise of criminal actions against, among others, Qrenta SA, Esfera Capital SA, Eurona Telecom Wireless SA, Deal Estate XXI SL, Akiles SL, Abengoa SA, and against hundreds of individuals and companies, Spanish and foreign, who have benefited from their fraudulent actions.
Contact us:
93 3621836
info@iurisfactor.com
Minerva y Iuris&Factor
Minerva y Iuris&Factor
