MADRID, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The chief executive of the eurozone's largest bank, Santander, has received a jail sentence of six months and a day for making false accusations as chairman of Spanish bank Banesto, a court said Monday.
Alfredo Saenz, who cemented his reputation in the 1990s by helping turn round ailing Banesto after Santander took it over, was found guilty of falsely claiming that shareholders of a company called Harry Walker owed Banesto 600 million pesetas, about 3.6 million euros.
Two other men, Miguel Angel Calama, former regional head of Banesto in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and lawyer Rafael Jimenez de Parga, were also found guilty and sentenced to six months and a day in prison.
However, they will not have to serve jail sentences since they have no previous convictions and under Spanish law only those sentenced to two years or more have to serve a first time jail sentence.
In a statement on Monday, Banesto said it would appeal the sentence against the men, saying the charges related to legal action brought by the bank in the early months of 1994 to recover debts.
The sentence was made public 16 years to the day after the Bank of Spain intervened in Banesto to save it from financial collapse. Santander successfully bid for the bank in 1994.
The Barcelona court also sentenced Saenz to pay a fine of 300 euros a day for three months and ordered him and the other men to pay one of the shareholders 100,000 euros in compensation for the time he spent in custody on false allegations.
(Reporting by Jesus Aguado and Sarah Morris; Editing by Richard Chang) Keywords: SANTANDER CEO/ (sarah.morris@reuters.com; +34 91 585 8328; Reuters Messaging sarah.morris.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Alfredo Saenz, who cemented his reputation in the 1990s by helping turn round ailing Banesto after Santander took it over, was found guilty of falsely claiming that shareholders of a company called Harry Walker owed Banesto 600 million pesetas, about 3.6 million euros.
Two other men, Miguel Angel Calama, former regional head of Banesto in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and lawyer Rafael Jimenez de Parga, were also found guilty and sentenced to six months and a day in prison.
However, they will not have to serve jail sentences since they have no previous convictions and under Spanish law only those sentenced to two years or more have to serve a first time jail sentence.
In a statement on Monday, Banesto said it would appeal the sentence against the men, saying the charges related to legal action brought by the bank in the early months of 1994 to recover debts.
The sentence was made public 16 years to the day after the Bank of Spain intervened in Banesto to save it from financial collapse. Santander successfully bid for the bank in 1994.
The Barcelona court also sentenced Saenz to pay a fine of 300 euros a day for three months and ordered him and the other men to pay one of the shareholders 100,000 euros in compensation for the time he spent in custody on false allegations.
(Reporting by Jesus Aguado and Sarah Morris; Editing by Richard Chang) Keywords: SANTANDER CEO/ (sarah.morris@reuters.com; +34 91 585 8328; Reuters Messaging sarah.morris.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
© 2009 AFX News
