TSJCyL annuls the sentence of 'Pipi' and his parents for the crime of money laundering

The ruling does not affect the four-year prison sentence imposed on the first for the continued crime of robbery

VALLADOLID, 9 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León has resolved to acquit José Luis R, alias 'Pipi', leader of the 'Banda del BMW', and his parents, Sotero and Segunda, of the crime of money laundering, and has therefore revoked the eight-month prison sentence imposed on the first and the six months that fell on his parents and the fines of 45,000 euros for each of the three.

The judgment of the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the TSJCyL, based in Burgos, thus upholds the appeals of the convicted and revokes the conviction handed down in June by the Valladolid Court, in the sense that it acquitted the three of the referred to the crime that the prosecutor accused them of putting the first in the name of his parents a BMW vehicle, acquired for 21,000 euros in cash and subject to repairs for another 8,428; an Opel Vivaro van that cost 14,000 euros, as well as a farm in Tudela de Duero for which 12,000 euros were paid 'to tocateja', all assets supposedly paid for with money from the criminal activity of 'Pipi'.

The acquittal issued by the TJSCyL is based on the fact that "the commission of the crime of money laundering in article 301.1 of the Criminal Code for which the three defendants have been convicted has not been sufficiently proven, in the first place because it is" clearly questionable that it could fully or sufficiently proven that the criminal activity of the son generated income, in short, money, which was used to acquire the indicated assets", while recalling that the aforementioned criminal activity charged by the prosecutor refers to them committed after the fact of the acquisition of goods.

Third, "and even though what has been stated above is sufficient to rule out the crime of money laundering as accredited, if we examine the acts of acquisition of assets that are considered to constitute criminal conduct, the requirement that such assets be acquired to hide or cover up their illegal origin, or to help the person who has participated in the infraction or infractions to avoid the legal consequences of their acts, at least not with respect to all of them".

The conviction of the three, as justified by the Second Criminal Section of the Valladolid Court, was due to the conviction that 'Pipi', "in order to hide the money generated by the crimes committed by him" in the form of numerous robberies in front of the 'Band of the BMW' "and to be able to benefit from this income", he agreed with his parents, Sotero and Segunda, to give legal appearance to the three commercial operations analyzed in the trial.

Although the defense based the acquittal on the fact that such purchases were made prior to the robberies recognized by 'Pipi', the Court of Valladolid argued that "in the reading of the criminal history sheet of the convicted person who is working in the case and who included Among the documentary evidence of the prosecutor, it is objectively accredited that before April 29, 2013 and at least since February 13, 2001, he had already been convicted of various crimes against property and robbery of things, a criminal activity that had to generate income that was used in commercial operations with the appearance of totally legality".

The sentencing court, in the same ruling, imposed on "Pipi" four years in prison for the continued crime of robbery, a penalty that had already been agreed upon by the defendant and that remains firm, and also sentenced eleven other members of the gang to different sentences, equally in accordance, which ranged from a fine of 364 euros to almost five years in prison, a set of sentences that rose to 32.5 years, far from the 149 that the prosecutor requested for the twelve defendants for about twenty robberies between December 2016 and March 2017.

Two other defendants did not even appear at trial because their whereabouts were unknown and, therefore, they were declared in absentia. This is Andrés M.G. ('El Viejo' or 'Goyo') and Rolando José G. ('Venezuela'), who in their day, once arrested, will share a bench and will be exposed to sentences of 13.5 and 8.5 years in prison, respectively .

Regarding the crime of money laundering, both "Pipi" and his parents, Sotero R.M. and Second, they pleaded not guilty at trial, despite the fact that the prosecutor in the case maintained the conviction that the purchase of two cars and a picnic area in Tudela de Duero was made with money from the gang's criminal activity.

"I have bought everything with the savings from my work over thirty-six years in the Renault Fasa!" Is the phrase that the father of the leader of the 'BMW Gang' repeated ad nauseam to justify the origin of the close to 60,000 euros that in a little over a year and eight months he disbursed 'toca teja' for the purchase of the vehicles and the plot.

In his statement, the father of 'Pipi' maintained that both the van purchased in 2013 and the BMW X6 purchased on June 9, 2014 and the plot on the street Extrarradio Diseminado de Tudela in 2015, with a global amount of almost 60,000 euros , they were paid out of pocket and in installments with "savings honestly obtained over thirty-six years of work at Fasa Renault", without his son having given him a single euro for said goods.

Although one of the cars was purchased for 21,000 euros, it was subsequently subjected to a series of repairs at the Fuenteolid facilities, in Valladolid, for an amount of more than 8,000 euros, which the company certifies that they also went "toca teja" , although the 'Pipi' claimed that the repairs were paid for by the insurance since the car was at all risks.

'Pipi', whose working life is reduced to a contract of one year, five months and twenty-nine days, explained that in 2014 he lived on the money obtained from "intermediary" tasks in operations of buying and selling cars and plots between Valladolid and Madrid , although the patrimonial report prepared by a National Police agent used by the prosecutor in the case testifies that "there is no logical explanation" that allows justifying the legal origin of the money used in the three acquisitions.

The report, with data from the Treasury, Social Security and Traffic, confirms that 'Pipi' has nothing in his name, has no job or known income and only has two bank accounts with his partner, with hardly any balance, and that the purchase of the cars and the plot do not reflect the corresponding movements in them nor in that of his father, a retiree in charge of six children and with a pension of no more than 1,200 euros per month.

Said report, contested by the defense, was used by the public prosecution to maintain the charges against 'Pipi' and her parents, while the defender requested an acquittal for lack of evidence, as has finally happened, after warning that the three controversial operations were carried out prior to the 2016-2017 period in which the 'BMW Gang' committed about twenty robberies, with which the money obtained in said illegal activity could hardly have been used to purchase the cars and the plot .