Chiefs of bailed-out CAM “used front firm to embezzle funds”

The former director general of Caja Mediterráneo (CAM) and the chief of its business divisions diverted funds from the lender to tax havens for their own profit and that of their associates, according to a lawsuit presented at the High Court by the current board.

Roberto López Abad and Daniel Gil Mallebrera stand accused of siphoning funds from the lender through Valfensal, a tourism promotion company 30-percent owned by CAM. The other 70 percent is controlled by hotel group Mar Confort, headed by Juan Vicente Ferri.

CAM was bailed out by the state subsequently nationalized after an audit by Deloitte. Included in the suit, the Deloitte report states that Ferri warned Gil that giving out information on Valfensal "could see you jailed."

Both Gil and López Abad, as well as the state Orderly Bank Restructuring Fund (FROB), which provided the funds for the CAM bailout, accuse Ferri and José Salvador Baldó, partners in Mar Confort, of embezzlement and fraudulent administration.

According to Deloitte, the four executives enjoyed "a notable personal and commercial proximity." The FROB complaint states that the directors benefited from "an obscure zone of management" that allowed them to lend money to Valfensal without projects without CAM requesting any independent evaluation of the deals. The FROB has identified five projects that were financed in this way.