The National Court proposes to try Ángel Ron and PwC for financial fraud
The judge of the National Court José Luis Calama has proposed trying the former president of Banco Popular Ángel Ron, twelve other directors and the consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for crimes of defrauding investors and accounting falsehood in the 2016 capital increase.
The head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 4 agrees to the provisional file for former president Emilio Saracho as he had not had any intervention in the violations of accounting regulations, but, on the contrary, took measures to check and evaluate the bank’s balance sheet.
Causes of the financial scandal
Deception of investors
Investors attended the 2016 capital increase “deceived”, since the financial statements of that year and 2015 “did not reflect the true image of the balance sheet or assets” of Banco Popular.
PwC collaboration
The resolution considers that the consulting firm PwC did not warn the members of the Audit Commission of any problem in the bank’s accounts, which contributed to the alteration of the financial information presented to investors.
Crimes and responsibilities
Investor scam
The judge explains that the crime of swindling investors was committed through the capital increase that Banco Popular marketed in 2016, hiding a significant deficit in provisions in its annual accounts.
Accounting falsehood
Those investigated are accused of a crime of accounting falsification perpetrated successively in the annual accounts of 2015, in the interim financial statements of 2016 and in the annual accounts of this last year.
No responsibility of supervisors
The judge explains that the actions of the supervisors (CNMV/BdE/BCE) were left out of the investigation, since it is not up to the judicial body to determine whether the supervision system worked correctly.