A little less than a year ago, Miguel Blesa stood in front of Spain's Congress of Deputies to defend his actions as manager of Caja Madrid. Yesterday Judge Elpidio José Silva ordered him to be placed in jail under a 2.5 million euro bond and called his management of Caja Madrid strange and disastrous. The investigation uncovered irregularities in the purchase of Citi National Bank of Florida and showed signs of unloyal administration, money laundering and wrongful appropriation of funds. What was Blesa's goal for siphoning money to tax havens? Whatever the case, he is the first bank manager of this crisis to go to jail.
And another 90 bankers are being investigated by the courts. It's true that Blesa, who the Peoples' Party and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party both helped get to his leadership position even though he was not elected unanimously, found Caja Madrid in perfect shape and has left it in ruins. elEconomista has reported on the shady activity from the start, and these dealings ultimately sent Blesa to prison.
We can't look the other way while Caja Madrid's future was put at risk by managers that don't even deserve the title and were a blight for the banking sector. Today we can rejoice that justice, even if slowly, has prevailed.
We were accused of blackmail for reporting on what is now evident, we were kept out of press conferences, and Caja Madrid refused us any form of support or information. Today we celebrate a victory for free information and justice now that Blesa will pay for abusing his role with a term in prision.
