A Bank Is Closed In Andorra And Spain’s Elite Takes A Battering
Forbes columnist Melik Kylan, in a detailed report, has written on the damage that the Andorran and Spanish governments have done, and how they can rectify the damage:
In an effort to extract financial information on Catalan independence leader Jordi Pujol, who is currently on trial in Spain, high-ranking members of the Spanish government sent misleading information about an Andorran bank to the U.S. government’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a central anti-laundering body. The result, ultimately, led to a series of controversies, including the bank’s expropriation and lengthy prison sentences for executives - outcomes that look increasingly unjust. The ramifications remain ongoing a decade later. Recent events have now given Andorra the opportunity to right these wrongs.
As part of the mission, Spanish officials instructed Villarejo to provide information to FinCEN that would lead to the closure of BPA if the bank did not hand over information related to Catalan independence leader Jordi Pujol. Notably, while Villarejo suspected Pujol actually had assets in another Andorran bank, Andbank, the government forbade him from looking into it, given that the Spanish King held money there.
In later court testimony, Villarejo alleged that then-Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy orchestrated the operation. Following the allegations, the Andorran courts opened an investigation into Operation Catalonia, including into former Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy, which remains ongoing. Here’s the core story in one sentence: The plaintiffs allege that “Rajoy used and brandished the false financial information sent to FinCEN to intimidate or influence the Andorran authorities into intervening and liquidating BPA, since otherwise the entire Andorran banking sector would be affected and frozen.”
This article was published on Forbes (US) on 26 December 2025, read here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2025/12/26/a-bank-is-closed-in-andorra-and-spains-elite-takes-a-battering/