In the years 1995-1998 the spanish bank BBVA of Spain acquires the main banks in Latin America. In Colombia, the BBVA acquires the Banco Ganadero, a private bank with 64,000 share holders and whose Executive President was Mr. Jesus Villamizar Angulo.

An ex-employee of the BBVA in Puerto Rico, who had been fired from the bank and sentenced for theft, comes up with a scheme of accusations against the leadership of the BBVA in Spain. In his accusations he involves the leadership of all of the banks acquired in Latin America.

History and Background of the Sale of Banco Ganadero

To whom it may concern,

In 1995 and 1996, BBVA, the second most important Spanish Bank, decided to acquire ownership of some main banks in different countries in Latin America. It thus acquired banks in Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, among others. In the particular case of Colombia, it acquired 40% of Banco Ganadero in 1996 paying cash to the stockholders in a public offer and in 1998, acquired most of said Bank through an exchange of stock, also carried out in a public offer with the participation of the stockholder who thus determined it.

These acquisitions were naturally carried out in accordance with the laws and with the approvals of the regulatory entities in each of the countries and, of course, the aforementioned acquisitions were processed and executed through the stock exchanges in each of the countries of the Central and South American regions. Since Banco Ganadero, S.A:, had issued ADRs in the New York Stock Exchange, it processed and obtained the approval of the New York Stock Exchange. In turn, BBVA obtained the approval of the Spanish authorities and the purchase and sales negotiation in both banks was approved by the respective General Stockholders’ Meeting. In the Colombian case, payment to the stockholders was registered as foreign investment at Banco de la República so that the Stockholders could freely and sovereignly participate in the Public Share Offer (PSO), held at the Colombia Stock Exchange. Therefore, there was no direct purchase from one or several stockholders, but rather a general and indiscriminate purchase for all those who wanted to sell their stock in the PSOs held at the Stock Exchange, as it, in fact, occurred. In most cases, resources for paying the purchase were obtained from BBVA in Puerto Rico and were received through the Central Banks, with the investment being recorded as it is to be assumed, in an absolutely legal and transparent manner.

Around 2001-2002, an official by the name of Nelson Rodríguez was suspended from his functions and dismissed from the BBVA Bank in Puerto Rico for having unduly kept to himself the amount of US$50,000.00, in addition to being proven that he had incurred in serious forgery. This theft and the forgery were detected by the Institution's general Management and Rodríguez López was imprisoned in a jail in Puerto Rico for this crime.

At that time, Mr. Rodríguez López swears that he will take revenge against the high level authorities of the Bank in Spain and puts up a miserable stunt against all the persons and entities which in Venezuela, Peru, Mexico and Colombia participated in each case in the purchase and sale processes, as Representatives, advisers, members of Board of Directors, Chairmen, Stockholders, etc.

The plot developed with forgeries of all kinds, was based on the affirmation by Rodríguez López that there was an agreement for facilitating the entry of BBVA into those countries, favoring moneylaundering to some stockholders in Latin America which guaranteed the legalization of monies originating from drugtrafficking.

In the specific case of Colombia, one of the false statements on which he based his accusation against Royo, for example, was to state that the latter was President and owner of Banco Ganadero, S.A., at the time of the purchase/sale. Marco Aurelio Royo has never been Executive President of Banco Ganadero or of BBVA Bank. On the other hand, it is well known and proven that the owners of the public corporation Banco Ganadero were 64,000 stockholders. Rodríguez López also alleged that Royo had received from BBVA of Puerto Rico, an unsecured loan and assured that it had never been paid off. Nevertheless, the copy of the security was delivered to Judge Garzón and to the Anti-Drug Prosecutor Javier Zaragoza, on July 2001, by the witness and director of BBVA, Alfredo Rosselló, on July 1st, 2001 as is evidenced in the proceeding and published in the Spanish press on July 2, 2002. Payment of the Loan (granted to Marco Aurelio Royo and four other stockholders for the purchase of BBVA stock) was carried out through a "Put and Call" that existed on the stock (pledged to BBVA as was proven to the Banking and Judicial authorities of Puerto Rico), at the Stock Exchange in Madrid, Spain on October 16, 1998, as evidenced in the proceeding.

Rodríguez López’s incredible and deceitful accusation was aimed at Marco Aurelio Royo and Enrique Gerlein Echeverria, important stockholders of Banco Ganadero,S.A., who had acquired their shares with a loan given to them and other multiple stockholders (linked through the Fidugan-Banco Ganadero Trust) by ING Bank on March 18, 1994, in the amount of USD115,000,000.00, with the pledging of all their Bank stock, to thus be able to acquire among all the stockholders (a total of 53), 25% of the Bank which up till then belonged to Banco de la Construcción de Venezuela. Rodríguez’s false and cunning accusation was made before the Spanish Judicial authorities since he was also accusing the President, the Managing Director and several Vicepresidents of BBVA in Spain. The judge in charge of the case was the famous and well-known Baltasar Garzón.

When I found out through the Spanish press about the scandal orchestrated by Rodríguez, I voluntarily proceeded to lift the reserve over the totality of my banking accounts; I went to Madrid to be at the disposal of Judge Garzón and I submitted all the information I had, without anybody having requested it, in order to prove the integrity of my behavior and the legal clarity of my action [ attached is the aforementioned document ]. My documented explanation was so conclusive that in a decision announced by judge Garzón, Marco Aurelio Royo is not charged with any crime and in said decision express mention is made of the probatory writ which I voluntarily presented when he states: "the lack of specificity of the witness’s allegations, the lack of original or documentary evidence, the documents submitted by BBVA, the documents provided by Marco Royo Anaya, render the actual charge against a specific person for a specific crime in this section, neither viable, or feasible or procedurally correct in the light of articles 118 LECRIM and 24 of the C.E." [ attached is the decision by judge Garzón ]. Subsequently, following in-depth investigations in the United States, Spain, Colombia and other countries, the case is dismissed, it not being necessary to submit further evidence, since "there is no criminal evidence" based on some investigations in different banks of the world carried out by KPMG, through two of its divisions, the expert and forensic, among others. The KPMG study appears on Pages 2194 through 2239 of the proceeding opened in Spain. This expert and forensic study proves the nonexistence of the banking accounts mentioned by Rodríguez López, thereby proving the forgery he undertook and each and every one of the irregularities he incurred to justify absolutely nonexisting transfers, according to emphatic conclusion by KPMG. This study is fundamental basis for the Court of First Instance No. 5 of the Central Criminal Court of Madrid, Spain to determine the dismissal of action in the cases of Mexico, Peru and Colombia, after receiving, of course, responses from the respective Governments to the letters rogatory sent to the judicial authorities of the United States, Peru, Venezuela and Colombia [ attach writ of March 11, 2005 ].

The newspaper "El Tiempo de Bogotá" publishes the news of the dismissal of action of the case in an article entitled: "Proceedings on purchase of Banco Ganadero is dismissed" (page 1-13 of Tuesday, May 15, 2005). It is reported therein that the Writ of dismissal of action states:

All of the foregoing description evidences that Marco Aurelio Royo was never charged and much less prosecuted for the false averments of Rodríguez López and there is no pending investigation or proceeding against him in any respect in any country.

Sincerely yours,

(sgd.)
Marco Aurelio Royo