Andorra Tribunal Rejects Appeal, Keeps Watch Smuggler in Detention

Andorra's Constitutional Tribunal has rejected a constitutional appeal from the defence of a 33-year-old Valencian resident known as the "watch entrepreneur," maintaining his provisional detention on charges of luxury watch smuggling and money laundering.

Arrested in mid-October 2024 after customs officials found two undeclared watches worth over €100,000, the man has remained in custody for more than two months. Authorities allege he ran an operation via an Andorran company set up in 2020, in collaboration with a Spanish firm. The scheme involved importing high-value watches, claiming VAT refunds, and exporting them without declarations—sometimes by simulating sales to clients who never visited Andorra. Without a public shop, the business relied on a private showroom in Andorra la Vella for scheduled viewings.

The defence appealed a November 6 Tribunal de Corts ruling that upheld the investigating judge's custody order, claiming violations of rights to liberty, due process, and family life under the Andorran Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights. They described the smuggling as a mere administrative irregularity with no fiscal harm, public damage, or victims, and called the money laundering charge—carrying up to eight years—an illogical overreach to justify detention. With full accounts, seized assets, and documents in hand, they highlighted his Andorran ties: local work, a three-year-old Andorran-citizen daughter, and a wife three months pregnant facing her own arrest warrant on return. Her absence during the raid was coincidental, not evidence of flight risk, they argued.

The Tribunal declared the appeal inadmissible, deeming lower courts' decisions well-reasoned and proportionate. It cited the charges' gravity, potential eight-year penalties, flight risk, and threat to the ongoing probe. Detention complies with Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, remaining suitable given its short duration relative to half the maximum sentence. The court dismissed strong local roots, noting the business's main activity abroad, a luxury lifestyle with high-end cars, and over €220,000 seized from a bank safe. On family impacts, it acknowledged strains but found no evidence prison conditions block reasonable contact, as visits remain possible. The measure meets standards of legality, necessity, and proportionality at this stage.