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CORRUPTION

Court orders the sale of jailed former business chief’s Palma property

Proceeds from the 7-million-euro transaction will go to pay off some of Díaz Ferrán’s creditors

Former CEOE chief Gerardo Díaz Ferrán, in a file photo.
Former CEOE chief Gerardo Díaz Ferrán, in a file photo.EFE

The High Court on Monday ordered the sale of a property belonging to jailed businessman Gerardo Díaz Ferrán, who was formerly the head of Spain’s largest employers association, the CEOE. The proceeds will go to cover some of the money he allegedly owes to his creditors.

The home in Calvià, Palma de Mallorca will be sold to Bijansur Real Estate for 7.06 million euros, Judge Eloy Velasco ruled.

The magistrate rejected a petition filed by a receiver appointed to handle Díaz Ferran’s finances and liquidation asking that the sale of the home to Bijansur be canceled because there was another buyer who made a higher offer.

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High Court prosecutor Daniel Campos had asked Judge Velasco to reject the receiver’s request because he believed that Bijansur’s offer was the best.

From the 7.06 million euros, at least 3.3 million euros will go to pay off the mortgage while the real estate firm will get a six-percent commission, or 390,000 euros. Another 3,327 euros will cover the appraisal, with 238,975 euros for other fees and costs linked to the sale.

The disgraced businessman has been in custody in Madrid’s Soto del Real prison since his arrest in December 2012 on fraud, tax evasion, money laundering and embezzlement charges. Investigators believe that the former CEOE president concealed his assets to prevent 10,000 creditors from collecting more than the estimated 400 million he owed them, stemming from the collapse of his defunct Viajes Marsans travel agency and other businesses he had owned.

The disgraced businessman has been in custody since his arrest in December 2012

Last December, a Madrid court sentenced him to two years and two months in jail for tax fraud. In September, prosecutors traced some 88 million euros in assets and properties – including luxury apartments in New York – to his name.

Díaz Ferrán had reportedly put the Palma de Mallorca home under his brother’s name shortly before his arrest.

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