Spain's National Court Clears CaixaBank in Money Laundering Case

**Spain's National Court dismisses money laundering case against CaixaBank and 11 employees, despite alleged links to Chinese fraud networks, highlighting stark contrast with Andorra's BPA convictions.**

Spain's Audiència Nacional has archived a money laundering investigation into CaixaBank and 11 of its employees, including some from the compliance department, ruling that the bank fulfilled required due diligence standards.

The probe, which lasted eight years, stemmed from accusations that the bank handled funds from several Chinese merchant networks suspected of tax fraud against Spanish authorities. Among them was the Emperador network led by Gao Ping, uncovered in 2012, which involved far larger transaction volumes and more participants than cases pursued in Andorra.

Prosecutors had alleged deficiencies in CaixaBank's controls allowed these schemes to operate. However, the court determined that the bank and its staff exercised appropriate professional diligence. It emphasized that any misconduct by clients—such as tax evasion as the predicate offense—should be pursued separately, not against the institution.

This outcome echoes findings by Spain's Sepblac anti-money laundering unit in its inspection of Banco Madrid, which implemented controls modeled on BPA's systems. Sepblac deemed those measures robust, exceeding standards in both Spain and Andorra.

The decision stands in sharp contrast to Andorra's judicial actions against around 20 BPA executives and managers. They received heavy prison sentences and fines in a case tied to smaller-scale Emperador links, with BPA handling no direct Chinese clients. That ruling, the first to justify the bank's state intervention and nationalization in 2015, has drawn criticism for evidentiary gaps, including untranslated Chinese documents and artificially constructed inferences.

Spanish authorities had eyed BPA amid probes into Catalan independence figures, though no such political links materialized. In the CaixaBank case, involving multiple Chinese networks depositing substantial sums, no criminal liability attached to the bank, while Andorra's proceedings left BPA staff facing severe penalties without pursuing the underlying clients. Authorities have provided no explanation for the divergent approaches.