The judge investigating the orders from BBVA to Villarejo summons five bank workers this week

MADRID, 27 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The National Court (AN) judge who is investigating the alleged illegal orders that BBVA would have made to the now retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo has summoned five workers from the bank to testify as witnesses for November 29 and 30 from 10.15 a.m.

In an order, to which Europa Press has had access, the reinforcement magistrate of the Central Court of Instruction Number 6, Joaquín Gadea, has agreed to the practice of these testimonies after the Criminal Chamber partially agreed with the former head of Bank security Julio Corrochano.

On October 20, the magistrates of the Third Section partially upheld the appeal filed by Corrochano, to which anti-corruption prosecutors Miguel Serrano and Alejandro Cabaleiro partially supported. The Public Prosecutor's Office understood that there were a series of procedures, which have finally been established, that had to be carried out.

The Prosecutor's Office, specifically, pointed out that the BBVA workers Beatriz Aguiriano, Clara Codesal and Itziar Ibáñez Loipategui "had a direct intervention in the payment of invoices for services provided by CENYT", the Villarejo business group, to the bank.

"According to the internal regulations for their payment, they could only authorize if they had had access to the contract and the correct execution of the service, therefore there are indications that if they were paid, they were in breach of said regulations by orders of their superiors (investigated here). That is why his statement is of vital importance and significance," argued Anti-Corruption.

All of them would have also allegedly had "access to the underlying contracts with some control of the execution of the service." Thus, the Public Ministry added, "they could explain if they received any indication from the entity regarding these payments or the meaning of emails related to them."

The Prosecutor's Office extended this justification to request the call to court as witnesses of Isabel López and José Maria Lazarrabal Zabala, "who also had an intervention, apparently not merely administrative, in the payment of invoices." "That is why their testimony as witnesses is pertinent," he said.

Thus, the instructor will listen from 10:15 am on November 29 to Codesal, Aguiriano and Ibáñez. One day later, at the same time, the magistrate will take a statement from Lazarrabal and López.

These citations are the prelude to what will, foreseeably, be the last statement in this separate piece from 'Tándem': that of the former BBVA president Francisco González. After various changes to the date, the declaration will take place on December 15.

González is being investigated for alleged crimes of bribery and disclosure of secrets. The Criminal Chamber lifted its charge for unfair administration, estimating the appeal of the former president of BBVA against the judge's decision to follow the criteria of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, who saw this possible offense in the alleged use of the bank to obtain information about a farm that he was interested in buying privately.

All this within the framework of this piece in which the judge examines the BBVA contracts with the Villarejo business group, CENYT, for different projects --presumably illegal-- at least between 2004 and 2017, some work for which the entity would have paid the commissioner more than 10 million euros.