From the king of coal to the man who cheated Wall Street: the Spaniards of the ‘Pandora papers’ persecuted for justice

Poco antes de declararse insolvente en España, Victorino Alonso, conocido como el Rey del Carbón, abría una sociedad opaca en un refugio fiscal. Idéntico destino tuvieron las 12 que abrió el financiero español Francisco Abellán, al que un tribunal de EE UU calificó de “sofisticado, artero y avaricioso” y que estafó a miles de clientes antes de acabar en la cárcel. Lo mismo ocurrió con las compañías de los empresarios Adrián de la Joya y Joaquín Barceló, que, en calidad de testaferros, aparecen en grandes sumarios judiciales como los casos Villarejo y Erial. Los hilos que estos hombres de negocios han intentado mover en jurisdicciones opacas han acabado, de una forma u otra, en manos de la justicia. Y su rastro se deja ver en los Papeles de Pandora, una investigación global coordinada por el Consorcio Internacional de Periodistas de Investigación (ICIJ) y en la que participan EL PAÍS y La Sexta en España.

This newspaper has been able to track at the 11.9 million documents of the filtration at least 53 people who have had an open judicial case in Spain.Among them is Rafael Tena, brother of the late singer Manolo Tena, a music producer who was charged with the plot of the television wheel.In these documents, information about David Martínez and Jordi Tamargo, former owners of the Yonkis Series Portal, who in addition to being tried by the contents to which this page were involved in a millionaire scam related to mobile phone services related to mobile telephone services is also.

Using a company based in a tax haven is legal.These companies benefit from the low taxation and secrecy of jurisdictions where they are registered.The problem is what is done with them and what implies their use: it is estimated that tax havens cost world governments between 400.000 and 800.000 million euros in taxes every year, depending on estimates.

"Aggressive growth" for King of Coal investments

Victorino Alonso, known as the king of coal or the king of the mine, is a name that resurfaces in the headlines from time to time about his problems with justice.For 500.000 tons of missing coal, for an illegal exploitation, for the destruction of an archaeological site, or by saving 600.000 masks in a warehouse in full crisis of the coronavirus.In the mid -1990s, the quality of its coal was questioned, the origin of the funds with which it had bought the largest private mine in the country and the veracity of its IRPF statements.In September 1996, the Herreda Limited society was constituted in the British Virgin Islands, which issued a general power in the name of Alonso a few days later.Herrianard, who shares billing address with other companies in Alonso in Madrid.

In 2004, shortly before one of his mines in Asturias was paralyzed in a precaution.Alonso appeared in 2017 as "the person who controls the company's underlying records and documentation".The specified address, also in Madrid, coincides with the registered office of Norte Carbonera Group, one of the companies that make up the Alonso Group.

The most recent Panamanian incursion of the businessman was through the company Neilmar Investments, created on June 21, 2016.On behalf of this company, an account is opened in May 2017 to the Administration of Investments in Financial Assets ".According to the registration form, the total assets of the company amounted to between 25 and 30 million dollars.The sum and investment objectives - "aggressive growth" - contrast with the insolvency declaration presented by Alonso a year later in the cause for the destruction of the archaeological site of the Chaves Cave (Huesca).He was always considered "an scapegoat" in that case.

According to Pablo Malo, a lawyer from environmentalist in action, throughout the instruction of the case, many companies already appeared in which a link with Alonso was intuited, but it was not possible to prove it: “When we asked about this at the trial, he couldget to recognize that in some they had been, but free ".Meanwhile, a corporate network plagued by testaferros diluted the potential ties with Alonso."The insolvency is decreed at a given time, but if there is any data that indicates that this person has improved the fortune of this person, that insolvency is eliminated and the amounts to which he was sentenced in sentence could be executed," adds bad.Alonso, meanwhile, has not answered the requests for comments and calls from El País and the sixth.

A Spaniard who cheated Wall Street

Francisco Abellán Villena has more than a decade under the magnifying glass of the United States Stock Exchange and Securities Commission (SEC).The agency stressed in a writing the "sophisticated, artisling and greedy nature of this Spanish financial and who participated in their scam.He was arrested in Ibiza in January 2020 for his participation in the fraudulent sale of Biozoom Inc shares.Supposedly, the company was developing a portable skin scanner that one day would be able to measure cholesterol and blood sugar.According to the SEC, the plot generated about 34 million euros in illicit benefits for the sales of biozoom shares at inflated prices based on advertising campaigns that reached the pages of The New York Times.

Pandora's papers show the foundations of their sophisticated manipulation scheme.The Spanish commission agent is linked to a whole bouquet of societies managed by German, Lamb and Galindo (Alcogal): between 2005 and 2007 appears in documents of at least 12 different entities, most, Panamanian.Vegastar Capital, Equity Holdings and Klo Financial Services have already been identified in 2009, when the SEC denounced the manipulation of GHL Technologies actions.At that time, a Tacoma Court (Washington) ordered the freezing of Abellán's accounts and estimated that the trick had reported benefits of 13.5 million dollars.The process resulted in a 419 fine.000 dollars.

As detailed by the American judicial documents, Abellán was residing, between his first judgment and the second, in the house where the player Gerard Piqué and the singer Shakira reside now.The sale of that mansion, in the Barcelona neighborhood of Pedralbes, was made “very quickly, and for a price lower than its market value, due to the interest of the seller to expedite the operation,” said the agency that was in charge of the Procedure.

Testeferros and great summaries

The presence of Adrián de la Joya and Ruiz de Velasco among Pandora's papers surprises less.The name of this Spanish businessman has appeared in the cases Villarejo, Lezo and Púnica linked to societies in tax havens for more than a decade.In this case, however, it plays a new role.An invoice from the Belize GDC law firm places him as a key piece in the purchase of Intelco, a Belizean telecommunications company, by the Spanish Technology Advancezit, where the position of vice president then held the position of vice president, then the position of vice president.The invoice also mentions Alfredo Oranges, Panamanian involved in a money laundering case.As published in the local media, the architect of the sale was Glenn Godfrey, president of Intelco and founder of the same CDG office.Of the jewel resigned from his position three months later.

In addition, Oranges and Advanzit appear in a document prior to the transaction that seems related to what the invoice describes.This is a GDG invitation letter sent to Oranges on December 20, 2011 for a private offer of un insident bonds by Intelco.Buyers of these bonds were asked to get an internationally established company - ”for example, Advancezit”, suggested the letter - purchased or acquired a substantial interest in the company.As thanks, they would receive a percentage of the benefits of the transaction.

The filtration also ratifies a link that had already signed up for the investigations of the Erial case, where documentation mentioned by the Panamanian Society Merson Overseas, which according to a witness of the investigation, had De la Joya as "representative".In 2015, Alcogal wrote a document that authorized the employer to sign a service agreement with the East River Ltd company on behalf of Merson.The businessman has refused to make statements about his relationship with this company and his role in the purchase of Intelco.

Another actor of the Window Case present in the papers is Joaquín Barceló, known for his role as Eduardo Zaplana's testaferro.This former leader of Terra mythical had also been linked to Panamanian Society Merceron Investments.On April 19, 2006, Alcogal issued a general power in his name for the company's administration, which came to have 3.4 million euros in his Andorra accounts.The novelty is the account that was opened that same day for the company at the Swiss Bank Credit Agricole.

Another involved in the case of Eduardo Zaplana is the Uruguayan lawyer Fernando Belhot.The lawyer, specialized in the creation of societies networks appears in the Alsoaciti dispatch contact book, with Singapore headquarters, at least until 2019.The minutes of a meeting in the archives of the office also detail a meeting, of years before, where Belhot was worried about the owner of the office for a legislative change."They currently have an offshore bank on the Cook Islands," notes the employees of Asaciti, "and are concerned about the news about the new US legislation".

Belhot, like the jewel and Barceló, have not answered the questions of El País and the sixth.

An account in Andorra and societies in Hong Kong

In 2017, the musical entrepreneur Rafael Tena was sentenced to prison on bail for his involvement in the fraud plot then baptized as 'The Television Wheel', based on the collection of copyright by musical pieces issued in this medium during theNight Strip.According to the case, between 2006 and 2011 those involved were pocketed more than 100 million euros registering false arrangements in public domain works in the name of testaferros and companies and ensuring their issuance at high hours.

Years before this judgment, Manolo Tena's brother appears linked to the birth of an archipelago of Panamanian companies, which according to the leaked documentation were registered by German, Lamb, Galindo and Lee with the mediation of an Andorran law firm.One of the societies, the Edale Foundation, gave him a power in 2015 to act as head of an account in the Private Banking of Andorra (BPA) dated May of that year.Faced with the questions related to these societies, Tena affirms that his heritage "is declared and has the venia of the Treasury".

Jordi Tamargo and David Martínez worked with another firm of Pandora's papers, SFM.Known for having founded the Links and Downloads Portal of Series Yonkis, they used the services of this office within the framework of the Mobile Telephony Macroestafo in which they participated with their Spanish company Billy Mobile.In 2012 they founded Crazy Networks, a company that was precisely the germ of the network that created mobile applications to make automatic calls to additional rate numbers or activated subscriptions to premium messaging services, whose reception implies an additional cost.According to Tamargo, the election of the territory was purely strategic: “In 2013, both I and David Martínez were residing in the United States.It was a personal decision, a vital project, to go to the west coast to better understand business models based on the latest trends in Mobile marketing.The life project was to have a leg in California and another in Hong Kong, technological capitals where the synergy of creation with investment coexists ”.

Among Pandora's papers are Crazy Networks contracts with companies that helped them make the system a reality, some already appeared in judicial causes, such as Air Ebites or Monsan.And new ones, such as Malaga Premium Sms Luna Advertising, the Fortumo Estonia, and the Colombian Jpa Communications.Tamargo says that these are some of the suppliers with which they worked among many others: "It is common in companies in the sector to use a network of international suppliers and partners".

In 2015 Crazy Networks closed and it was when Billy Mobile emerged.According to the former co -owner of Series Yonkis, it was the result of his return to Spain, a year earlier."At this time, due to change, we voluntarily decided to present a regularization of both VAT and the Corporation Tax in relation to Crazy Networks taxes of our American stage in Spain," he says, before insisting onthat no investigation from the Tax Agency was.