Judge Investigates The Former President Of Abengoa For Falsifying Accounts

The Court of Instruction 3 of Seville has charged the former president of Abengoa Felipe Benjumea and two other former senior officials of the company for the crimes of falsifying annual accounts and economic and accounting information on their work on the AVE project to Mecca.

The order, dated September 7, 2021, responds to a complaint filed by the legal representation of Abengoa’s association of injured parties to investigate whether there has been manipulation or falsification of the accounts of the company’s subsidiaries in relation to the AVE Meca projects. -Medina.

Those affected by Abengoa denounce crimes of falsifying the accounts of the Abeinsa, Industrial Construction and Inabensa facilities subsidiaries for “deliberately manipulating project margins and costs; crimes of issuing fictitious invoices in simulated contracts and the crime of alteration / manipulation of cash flow in order to hide the real economic reality “.

For the subpoenas to give testimony of the investigated ones -Bemjumea, the former financial director José Ángel García Quilez and the former general director of the Inabensa subsidiary Gonzalo Gómez García- is awaiting the preparation of the agreed expert report in order to have a “Complete delimitation of the irregularities that are the object of the complaint, without prejudice to the fact that they may first voluntarily request their appearance,” according to the order.

The judge does not admit the documentary investigation procedures concerned by the private accusation, with the exception of the testimony proposed by RRF, who is summoned on November 26 in his capacity as head of Abengoa’s internal audit to question him about the actions undertaken since the company’s Internal Audit department.

According to the order, it must be clarified whether there has been manipulation or falsification of the accounts of the entities to which the complaint refers related to the projects of the AVE MecaMedina (carried out by the Department of Railways for the installation of catenary wiring and construction of electrical substations) and Technical Buildings (construction of technical buildings to house the equipment necessary for the operation of the train). It should also be checked “if there has been any simulation related to the invoices issued by the company Nicsa, a subsidiary of the Abengoa group, having provided a copy of two invoices issued on December 30 and 31, both of 2013, doubting the effective provision of such services in the referred projects “.

And, finally, if there has been any simulation related to the provision attributed to La Farga, a supplier of copper cables and which, according to the complaint, would have been sold to Inabensa Turkey so that it could in turn sell them to Inabensa Saudí, in triangulation mode, he holds the order of the examining magistrate number 3 of Seville.

Fernández and Martínez Sieso, candidates again for Abengoa directors
Abengoa’s Shareholders’ Meeting, called for October 1, must vote on the appointment as directors of Clemente Fernández, former president of Amper and who aspires to preside over the engineering company, and José Joaquín Martínez Sieso, former president of Cantabria.

The vote has been included in the agenda of the Meeting by the bankruptcy administrator of Abengoa SA, in compliance with the resolution issued by the Mercantile Registrar of Seville on September 14, the company has informed the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

However, the communication to the stock market supervisor states that, in accordance with said resolution, the moments of the supplement to the agenda of the Meeting must justify, before the Mercantile Registry of Seville, their status as shareholders.

“In the event that the alleged representation is not proven, the requested supplement will be rendered ineffective, so the agenda would be exclusively the one published on August 30, 2021”, adds Abengoa.

Fernández, whom a group of minority shareholders want to make president of the company, and Martínez Sieso, have already tried to access Abengoa’s board at the meeting held in March.

This critical shareholder receivership was established on December 29, 2020, when they claimed to have 7.84% of the capital, with the aim of calling another Meeting to dismiss the board of directors that replaced the one formerly headed by Gonzalo Urquijo.

Among other issues, Abengoa shareholders must also vote on the approval of the company’s accounts for 2019 drawn up by the insolvency administrator, which according to PwC express in all significant respects the true image of the company’s equity and financial situation at the time of the closing of that fiscal year, as well as its results and cash flows.

Said accounts, submitted to the CNMV, reflect losses of 487 million euros and a liability that exceeds current assets by 649 million euros, which implies incurring in a situation of bankruptcy.

According to the PwC report, the losses are the result, among other factors, of the strong deterioration recorded with respect to its investments in group companies, whose parent company was declared bankrupt on February 26.