MADRID, 8 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The recognized recoveries of the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB) by final judgment amount to 270 million euros to date.
This is stated by the FROB in its Activity Report for 2021, where it explains that “it continues with its work of persecuting and penalizing those irregular behaviors that were detected within the various credit institutions receiving public aid.”
Throughout the year, the FROB has maintained its presence in the 20 criminal cases that are still pending against numerous former directors of different entities.
The agency highlights that most of the causes are already very advanced, with the exception of a single process that is still in that phase due to the high complexity of the cause.
Of the remaining 19 proceedings, a total of nine proceedings are pending oral proceedings, three of which have a date set for their holding and the other six are pending appointment.
In the administrative litigation, there is no longer any appeal pending from those originating from the actions directed against the actions carried out by the FROB in restructuring and resolution processes that were developed under the framework and powers of the repealed Law 9/2012.
The report indicates that all the judicial pronouncements obtained in said procedures ratified the legality and conformity to law of the administrative actions carried out by the FROB under the framework.
At the same time, the multiple contentious-administrative appeals that were filed against the administrative activity carried out by the FROB within the framework of its new regime of action are continuing.
Specifically, the processing of the numerous procedures through which the Resolution of the Governing Committee of the FROB dated June 7, 2017 is still pending, by which it was agreed to adopt “the necessary measures to execute the decision of the SRB on the resolution of Banco Popular”.
All contentious-administrative appeals admitted by the National High Court also continue to be suspended, pending a definitive resolution on the annulment appeals filed against the SRB Decision, as well as the procedure relating to the appeal filed by the FROB against a Resolution of the Council for Transparency and Good Governance by which the Council partially estimated access to certain information under the Transparency Law.
The report highlights three new procedures initiated in this fiscal year: an appeal filed against the inadmissibility of a request for ex officio review and declaration of nullity of an administrative act; an appeal filed against the Resolution of the FROB Governing Committee ruling on a request for access to information under the Transparency Law, and a third appeal also against the Resolution of the FROB Governing Committee ruling on a request of access to information.
In the civil-commercial sphere, the FROB mentions that the lawsuits that were still active were related to processes in which the annulment of the contracts for the sale of shares of entities in restructuring or resolution to a third party was requested, as well as those for the transfer of business.
They are procedures initiated in previous fiscal years, which already have favorable and final judgments regarding which the collection of costs recognized in various instances is being processed.
Another of the segments is related to the acquiring entities in such resolution processes, as well as the effect of the supervening nullity of the floor clauses in said acquisitions. Specifically, these are three processes that are pending resolution by the Supreme Court before the various appeals for cassation and/or review raised to the contrary.
To these are added two other processes. One is related to the discrepancy on the economic impact derived from the modification of the initially segregated perimeter of an entity in resolution subsequently transmitted to the plaintiff entity, and another to the discrepancy on whether the loss derived from the liquidation of a fund on two assets included in perimeter must be covered or not by the asset protection scheme.
The report adds a new civil lawsuit at the end of 2021 in which the damages caused by the flooding of a property are claimed, whose procedure is followed in Benidorm and with respect to which the summons for the response to the demand is still pending.
“We can continue to ensure that the (economic) disturbances reach the Spanish banking sector in a much better situation than in the past, with a solid situation and a proven capacity for resistance that allows us to face these new challenges for financial stability with confidence, although always from the prudence that is part of the DNA of the resolution authorities”, highlighted the FROB president, Paula Conthe.
