Five former bank executives have been sentenced to prison by a high court in Spain after getting millions in severance payments.
Nova Caixa Galicia (NCG) was known by the executives to be in severe financial difficulty, but they nevertheless took nearly €19 million in compensation when they left their posts in 2010.
"These are people who managed a savings bank that had to be rescued by the state," Spain's National Court said in a ruling this week.
The next year, NCG had to be nationalised to save it from bankruptcy. Spain late had to go to the EU in 2012 to ask for €41.3 billion to shore up it and other banks.
NCG received €9 billion in aid and was then sold in for just €1 billion 2013 to Venezuelan bank Banesco.
The five had been found guilty of embezzlement in 2015 and given sentences of two years.
It is customary in Spain to suspend two year sentences for first offences of non-violent crimes, but in this case the National Court held that "the gravity of the offence given its macroeconomic impact means it is necessary that the five go to prison”. It said it had taken the decision to avoid letting former bankers enjoy “impunity”.
The prison term appears to be the first in Spain over banking failures.
Ongoing is the higher profile trial of former economy minister and ex-IMF boss Rodrigo Rato on embezzlement charges when he presided over Bankia, another bank that had to be bailed out.
