The former directors of Banca Privada de Andorra to challenge the court
ABC reports that the former directors of BPA will file a motion to recuse the panel of judges overseeing the ‘BPA’/’Gao Ping’ Case in Andorra, citing that their rights “to an impartial judge and to a fair trial” are being violated. The defendants will argue that magistrate Enric Anglada, the president of the tribunal, “has known since 2013 that the Spanish and American police were investigating the directors of BPA in a prospective and illegal way”, which triggered FinCEN’s notice and the expropriation of the bank. Anglada presided over a corruption case in 2013 involving a Catalan mayor and Russian businessman Petrov, where evidence presented suggests that Spanish authorities were investigating Andorra’s financial system in spurious and illegitimate ways.
Former directors of the Private Bank of Andorra (BPA) who are accused of participating in money laundering practices in connection with a criminal organisation led by Chinese businessman Gao Ping have filed a motion to recuse the three judges overseeing their case. They believe their right to an impartial judge and fair trial is violated by the presiding judges. The motion to dismiss the three magistrates is to be presented by the defences of the defendants in September.
Magistrate Enric Anglada, president of the Andorran Court of Corts, was aware of the patriotic police’s attempts to investigate the directors of BPA on false claims since 2013. This was assumed because at the time Anglada had a seat in the High Court of Justice and was responsible for judging a case linked to Russian businessman Andrei Borisovich Petrov. Petrov’s attorneys claim that he was only investigated to open doors for an investigation into Andorran banks and Russian capital. Therefore, the lawyers of the BPA directors claim Anglada had previous knowledge of the facts being used in the current trial. This prompted the request for new judges in the case.
The Cierco family have vehemently defended that both BPA and its subsidiary, Banco de Madrid complied with all legal regulations and requirements. Higini Ciercio has been one of the individuals that has pushed forward the lawsuit against former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his ministers Cristóbal Montoro and Jorge Fernández Díaz, who he has accused of instigating Operation Catalonia. In Spain, Cierco filed a lawsuit claiming compensation of 141 million euros from the Bank of Spain for its role in the liquidation of Banco Madrid. The Higini brothers and Ramón Cierco, majority shareholders of BPA, as well as the rest of the Board of Directors were not prosecuted and were left out of the case because they only had supervisory and representative functions rather than executive functions.
This article is adapted from an article originally published in ABC on 02 August 2022.