The judge of the 'Popular case' summons a former manager as a witness to clarify the "anomalies" indicated by the experts

The one who was director of the appraisal office of the entity must declare on January 19

MADRID, 28 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The judge of the National Court in charge of the investigation of the 'Popular case' has summoned as a witness for next January 19, at 9:00 a.m., the former director of the entity's appraisal office, Cecilio Real, to clarify the "numerous anomalies pointed out by the experts in their reports".

In an order to which Europa Press has had access, the head of the Central Investigating Court Number 4, José Luis Calama, has upheld the request of Algebris (UK) Limited, which requested that the aforementioned charge be heard as a witness.

The prosecution argued that the statement is "relevant" to "clarify whether the appraisals used by the bank complied with the criteria of Order ECO 805/2003", of March 27, on real estate valuation standards and certain rights for certain financial purposes, "as the entity itself published in its annual accounts".

Likewise, Algebris considered that the testimony will clarify "why appraisers that were not registered with the Bank of Spain were used, since when these practices began, who knew, etc."

The judge recalled that in January 2021 Banco Santander provided the organization chart of the general intervention of Banco Popular, which included Cecilio Real in the Management Control department, where "presumably all real estate appraisal operations were managed".

In this sense, the magistrate has indicated that "after the last expert ratification, the need for him to give a statement becomes clear, given the numerous anomalies pointed out by the experts in their reports."

On the sidelines, Judge José Luis Calama recently requested a new expansion of the report from the Bank of Spain experts Teodoro Fernández and Álvaro López after a series of doubts arose in their statement in court.

In the first report, the experts appreciated a deficit of 135 million in the entity in the 2015 financial year. In the extension, requested by the instructor, the experts concluded that the extinct entity must have reflected losses of 1,019.897 million euros in the 2015 financial year instead of the profit of 105,394 million that it declared.

The sources consulted by Europa Press assured that the experts were ratified in court and that the Prosecutor's Office asked them about the relationship between the two figures. That is, between the deficit for a value of 135 million first and the supposed losses of 1,019 million.

The experts, who have ratified the rest of the issues contained in their reports, would not have offered a sufficiently clarifying answer in the eyes of the Public Ministry or the judge himself, which led to the request for a second extension.