Sepblac fines CaixaBank more than 30 million for the sale of the Foster Tower

He Sepblacthe money laundering prevention unit dependent on the Ministry of Economy, has fined CaixaBank more than 30 million in a series of sanctions for a Bankia inherited case. On December 11, the Official State Gazette (BOE) published a fine from the organization to Bankia (which CaixaBank has to assume, after having merged with it) of 17.6 million euros for a “very serious violation of the regulations on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism”.

Asked by Europa Press, CaixaBank has declined to comment on this case. The ‘Bloomberg’ agency has reported the rest of the sanctions, up to the amount of 30 million euros, although they are not public for now. The sanction published in December was formalized in December 2023, when former minister Nadia Calviño was still in the Government.

It was decided to sanction Bankia for failing to comply with “the obligation to communicate by indication when any director or employee of the obligated subject would have revealed internally the existence of indications or the certainty that an event or operation was related to money laundering or the financing of terrorism.” The fine published, as stated by the BOE in December, is being appealed through contentious-administrative proceedings before the Supreme Court. The rest of the sanctions for this issue are also found appealed, as has been learned Europa Press in financial sources, so no sanction is firm.

The Foster Tower is owned by Amancio Ortega

The case dates back to a decade ago, when Bankia decided to sell the Foster Tower, which at that time was occupied by Moeve (at that time it operated under the name Cepsa). The operation was structured in two sections. In a first step, Bankia sold the building to the then president of Cepsa, Khadeem Al Qubaisi, for around 400 million. Subsequently, he decided to sell the building to Pontegadea, the investment arm of the founder and first shareholder of Inditex, Amancio Ortega.

It is not the only entity that has been fined in this process in recent years. At the end of 2020, several sanctions of the Sepblac for an amount of about 8.2 million against Bankinter. This entity granted a loan that allowed Al Qubaisi to exercise the option to purchase the property and then resell it to Pontegadea. Last June, the National Court decreed the search and capture of Al Qubaisiinvestigated for crimes of money laundering and against the Public Treasury in relation to the sale of the Foster Tower.