Five ex-managers of Novacaixagalicia Bank jailed for giving themselves millions in early retirement pay-offs
Wednesday, January 18, 2017 @ 11:52 AM
FIVE former managers of the north-western bank Novacaixagalicia have been sent to prison for two years for giving themselves multi-million 'golden handshakes' before leaving the high-street entity.
Gregorio Gorriarán, Julio Fernández Gayoso, José Luis Pego, Óscar Rodríguez Estrada and Ricardo Pradas (pictured left to right) were given exactly two years behind bars, since just one day less than this would mean if they had not committed any previous offences, their sentence would have been suspended.
Gayoso was chairman of Caixanova, later absorbed by Novacaixagalicia Banco, and Pradas was the latter's legal advisor, with the other three being senior managers.
None of the five has refunded the money, as they were initially instructed to do by the National Court, and they all feature in other legal cases currently open.
It was the National Court which turned down an application by the bank managers' defence lawyers to suspend their sentences, handed down by a lower tribunal.
In fact, the Supreme Court, the highest in the land, ruled that the two-year jail terms were 'disproportionately lenient' given the 'seriousness' of the offenders' conduct.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com