The Caja Navarra scandal unraveled in 2012 after the absorption of Caja Navarra (CAN), integrated in the financial conglomerate Banca Civica, by CaixaBank (3 August 2012). Caja Navarra lost all its worth, causing its actual demise. Caja Navarra's acronym and brand CAN was kept converted into a foundation. The highly controversial crash of the institution gave way to a demand of responsibilities.
Caja de Ahorros de Navarra or Caja Navarra or CAN was a medium-sized savings bank based in the Navarre province of northern Spain with headquarters in Pamplona. The financial institution broke up in 2012 among allegations of irregularities and failure by the relevant control organ of the Government of Navarre to audit the savings bank for several years. On an yearly basis, UPN's regional Government was handed over a copy-paste, two-page long activity report by Caja Navarra, as revealed in 2014.
Banca Cívica, S.A. was a bank created as a result of the European debt crisis as an emergency response by the Spanish government regulatory authority "Institutional Protection System" that comprised the savings banks of Caja Navarra, Caja Canarias, Caja de Burgos and Cajasol. It became part of Caixabank on 3 August 2012, at which time shares for the company ceased to be quoted.
CaixaBank, S.A., formerly Criteria CaixaCorp, is a Spanish financial services company owned by CriteriaCaixa with a 40% stake. CaixaBank is based in Valencia and Barcelona in Spain. It is Spain's third-largest lender by market value, after Banco Santander and BBVA. CaixaBank has 5,397 branches to serve its 15.8 million customers, and has the most extensive branch network in the Spanish market. It is listed in the Bolsa de Madrid and is part of the IBEX 35.
A closed Caja Navarra branch in San SebastiánMiguel Sanz, ex-president of Navarre
Caja Navarra (CAN) is a merger of two entrenched savings banks renowned for their proximity to the Navarrese people, and considered a sign of identity, as well as a symbol of Navarre's economic solvency and autonomy. In the 1980s and 1990s, 43% of the money of the Navarrese was held in either of both institutions, representing the prime financial institution in Navarre.
Navarre, officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is an autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Nouvelle-Aquitaine in France. The capital city is Pamplona.
After the fusion of the savings banks Caja Provincial de Navarra and Caja de Ahorros Municipal de Pamplona in 2000, the re-founded institution undertook a series of financial operations and expansion of its branches out of Navarre (including a representative office in Washington). As a result, CAN's assets plummeted.
The savings bank became insolvent in 2012 after years of asset-stripping, including the mysterious disappearance of its artistic collection. The fallout of the scandal affected high- and mid-ranking officials of the regional party UPN (Unión del Pueblo Navarro) who held political and managerial positions both within the bank and the Government of Navarre.
Mismanagement
In 2010 the Board of Founding Partners was established to insulate Caja Navarra from political meddling, but paradoxically it integrated well-known political personalities, all of them high-ranking members of UPN and PSN (Spanish Socialists in Navarre), such as Yolanda Barcina, Miguel Sanz, Alberto Catalán, Roberto Jimenez, or Enrique Maya[1] (mayor of Pamplona since 2011).
The Socialist Party of Navarre is a regional branch of the mainstream Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the main centre-left party in Spain since the 1970s.
Yolanda Barcina Angulo is a conservative Spanish politician who was the mayor of Pamplona, Navarre from 1999 to 2011, and elected the chairwoman of the Navarrese People's Union (UPN) in 2009. From 2011 to 2015, she was the President of the Chartered Community of Navarre.
Miguel Sanz Sesma is a conservative Spanish politician of the Navarrese People's Union (UPN) and the president of the autonomous community of Navarre from 1996 to 2011.
Caja Navarra-related societies of dubious operation came into being, such as Sociedad Industrial de CAN and HISCAN Patrimonio S.L. Their Permanent Board members, all of them high-ranking officials or ex-officials of the government of Navarre (UPN) and PSN, have come to be accused of receiving irregular bonuses. Only in 2011, the 16 permanent board members of HISCAN Patrimonio S.L. received 121,000 euros in bonuses, a period in which CAN incurred heavy financial losses estimated at 203 million euros in just one year, down from 500-plus millions’ worth, during Yolanda Barcina’s one-year tenure in the board.[2]
It was revealed that Yolanda Barcina, Miguel Sanz, Álvaro Miranda, and Enrique Maya got paid 2,860 and 1,717 euros each for participating in one-hour meetings (two consecutively) of a ghostly Permanent Board, held 16 times.[3] The meetings consisted of a financial briefing to the board members, in which no questions were made and no minutes were recorded. After the revelations, president of the region Yolanda Barcina claimed she would give the money back, while apologizing to the people of Navarre for her behaviour.
In the period extending from 2004 to 2011, the estimated figure in bonuses to representatives of political, social and cultural agencies affiliated to Caja Navarra (including Ricardo Martín Fluxa, a Spanish ex-Secretary of State for Security, or Javier Iturbe, PSN ex-president and member of the Board of Directors) amounted to 4,3 million euros.
Parliamentary investigation
In late 2014, opposition parties of the Parliament of Navarre promoted the establishment of a parliamentary investigation panel to clear responsibilities. The Spanish Socialists' branch in Navarre, the PSN, voiced its misgivings, while the party at the centre of the controversy, the anti-Basque UPN, showed a frontal refusal, arguing that the case had to be left to Justice, actually Madrid tribunals (a Supreme Court ruling had recently acquitted the president of Navarre Yolanda Barcina of legal misconduct in the scandal of Caja Navarra’s irregular bonuses).
However, a vote majority in the regional parliament made it possible the creation of that panel. Opposition parties (Geroa Bai, EH Bildu, Izquierda-Ezkerra) other than the Spanish Conservatives (PP) lashed out at the Socialists for attempting to constrain the range of topics to be addressed in the scrutiny, as well as allowing with their abstention to propel the party UPN, allegedly responsible for Caja Navarra's demise and main opponent to the parliamentary investigation, to chair the investigation panel and hold a critical position.
The Navarrese People's Union, abbreviated to UPN, is a regional conservative political party in Navarre, Spain. Until 2008, it was a fraternal party of the People's Party (PP), acting as the latter's Navarrese branch.
Navarrese Foral Alliance was a right-wing political party in Navarre, Spain. AFN was registered on March 7, 1977.
The Kutxa is a savings bank mainly operating within a regional scope in the Gipuzkoa province of Spain. Its Spanish name is Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Gipuzkoa y San Sebastián but it was re-branded as Kutxa. On 1 January 2012 it merged with other Basque financial entities, Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa (BBK) and Caja Vital Kutxa, to form Kutxabank.
The Southern Basque Country is a term used to refer to the Basque territories within Spain as a unified whole.
Santiago Cervera Soto was a Spanish politician who belonged to the People's Party (PP) of Navarre.
Miren Uxue Barkos Berruezo, simply known as Uxue Barkos, is a Spanish journalist and politician who served as the President of Navarre from 2015 to 2019. She previously represented the Basque coalition Geroa Bai, and before that, Nafarroa Bai, in the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
The 2011 Navarrese regional election was held on Sunday, 22 May 2011, to elect the 8th Parliament of the Foral Community of Navarre. All 50 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.
The 2015 Navarrese regional election was held on Sunday, 24 May 2015, to elect the 9th Parliament of the Foral Community of Navarre. All 50 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.
The 2007 Navarrese regional election was held on Sunday, 27 May 2007, to elect the 8th Parliament of the Foral Community of Navarre. All 50 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in twelve other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain.
Corruption in Navarre refers to a quick succession of corruption scandals which have come to light since 2012 referring to the UPN's tenure in office. However, amidst heated political confrontation since the late days of Franco's dictatorship, the first corruption cases erupted early on, going back to the first government cabinets formed after the establishment of Navarre's "Betterment".
The Government of Navarre is the institution of executive nature in which the government of the Chartered Community of Navarre (Spain) is organized. Its powers were regulated in the "Amejoramiento" of 1982 in Chapter III Articles 23 to 28.
Ahotsa.info is a Spanish online newspaper covering Navarre. It was founded in 2014 and crowdfunded. After the closure of Apurtu.org and Ateak Ireki ordered by the Audiencia Nacional and the later dismissal of the case, a group initiated the Ahotsa.info project to give continuity to the work of the previously closed media outlets.
The 9th Parliament of Navarre was a meeting of the Parliament of Navarre, the regional legislature of Navarre, with the membership determined by the results of the regional election held on 24 May 2015. The parliament met for the first time on 17 June 2015.
The 10th Parliament of Navarre is the current meeting of the Parliament of Navarre, the regional legislature of Navarre, with the membership determined by the results of the regional election held on 26 May 2019. The parliament met for the first time on 19 June 2019. According to the Statute of Autonomy of Navarre the maximum legislative term of the parliament is 4 years.
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