IDHA Pushes for Full Indictment in BPA Case over Alleged Spanish State Plot

The Andorran Human Rights Institute (IDHA) has formally requested the investigating magistrate to convert the preliminary proceedings in the BPA case into a full criminal indictment, based on fresh evidence and witness statements added in recent months.

In a submission dated 18 December, the IDHA argues that the 2015 intervention in Banca Privada d'Andorra (BPA) was a state-orchestrated operation led by Spain's government under Mariano Rajoy from 2012 to 2015. It alleges coordination involving Spain's Interior Ministry, the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), the Sepblac financial intelligence unit, and various police forces.

The request hinges on testimony from former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, who claimed the operation stemmed from direct orders out of the Moncloa presidential complex. Villarejo identified Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz and Secretary of State Francisco Martínez as key figures. He referenced counter-surveillance activities, communications with the US FinCEN agency, and classified documents now held on servers of Spain's National Court, Instruction Court No. 6, in the Tándem case.

Former Andorran ministers Jordi Cinca and Gilbert Saboya also testified, reportedly acknowledging political and diplomatic pressure from Spanish authorities between 2012 and 2014. The IDHA submission details their accounts of meetings with Rajoy, Cristóbal Montoro, and others, including a post-intervention encounter with Íñigo Fernández de Mesa, then Economy Secretary of State and former Sepblac president. Saboya is said to have confirmed Spain's repeated interest in controlling the Andorran bank.

New evidence includes Villarejo's signed intelligence notes, emails with urgent messages like "ANDORRA. Cierre ya" (Andorra. Close now), and confirmation of recordings involving BPA's then-delegated councillor Joan Pau Miquel. The IDHA contends this points to coordinated roles suggestive of illicit association.

The institute also seeks international rogatory commissions to Spain and the US for emails, intelligence notes, recordings, and documents exchanged between Sepblac, FinCEN, and Andorra's Uifand unit. These reportedly underpinned the March 2015 notice against BPA, linking to cases like Petrov, Emperador, and PDVSA.

Lawyer Alfons Clavera, representing the IDHA, wants formal notification to all parties of the investigated offences—including coercion, conditional threats, blackmail, documentary forgery, illicit association, and coercion of constitutional bodies—and the specific accusations against them. The move aims to overturn a prior rejection of the complaint and launch a full inquiry.