The former number 2 of the Interior Ministry claims that it was Andorra that ‘finished off’ BPA

In a letter to Andorra’s Prime Minister, Xavier Espot, the former Secretary of State for the Interior of Spain, Francisco Martínez, states that the Andorran government provided FinCEN with information about BPA in order for the US entity to publish its notice and allow the government to take over the bank. 

Martínez states that “the source of the intelligence underlying FinCEN's note is not its own sources, nor Spanish sources, but the information provided directly from the Principality of Andorra. If, after judicial investigations, it is considered that the information was incorrect or was deliberately exaggerated or even manipulated, the explanation (is) in Andorra.”

BPA’s former shareholders have stated that the cases mentioned in FinCEN’s notice were previously reported to the Andorran financial authorities, which did not raise any concerns. 

Furthermore, Martínez claims BPA’s takeover was triggered by  "bad coexistence between banking institutions" in Andorra and a desire by its authorities to "show an exemplary reaction to external financial interlocutors." 

This article was first published by La Vanguardia on 14 February 2023.