MADRID, (Reuters) – Spain’s High Court yesterday placed Antonio Brufau, the current chairman of oil company Repsol, and Isidro Faine, the former chairman of Spain’s Caixabank, under formal investigation as part of a probe into a decade-long alleged spying case.
According to an official court document released on Thursday, the judge is investigating whether Repsol and Caixabank hired Spain’s former police chief Jose Manuel Villarejo to spy on the then chairman of construction company Sacyr, Luis del Rivero, in 2011 and 2012 to block a takeover bid for Repsol by Sacyr and Mexican state oil firm Pemex.
Repsol was then partly owned by Caixabank.
The so-called ‘WINE’ project first started when Repsol detected a common “strategy by Del Rivero to join (forces) with Pemex in order to obtain almost a third of the total shares of Repsol, and thus gain access to the control of the Spanish oil company”, the court document said.
The decision by investigation judge Manuel Garcia Castellon follows a request by the anti-corruption public prosecutor a few days ago. Brufau and Faine will now be investigated for any possible links to bribery, in connection with both companies’ alleged dealings with Villarejo.
Under the Spanish judicial system no formal charges can be brought forward until the first phase of investigation is over.
Being under investigation does not imply, at this preliminary stage of the probe, the formal accusation of any crime.
Repsol and Caixabank declined to comment. Reuters was not immediately able to contact Pemex representatives or lawyers of Brufau and Faine.
