Nordea Bank S.A. Luxembourg’s (as well as the Swiss Branch) legal representative has today turned up in the Malaga Court for the pre-hearing stage to face the music. Opposing him was the representative of 6 claimants who were sold the tax-defrauding client-cheating highly-toxic Nordea Equity Release Mortgage & Managed Capital Plan and, as it has turned out to be, the presiding Judge.
The Court was sympathetic to the plight of the claimants and has admitted the following evidence in the case:
- 2 Tax Office resolutions that categorically define Equity Release for tax purposes as tax fraud.
- 1 Notarized document proving that Nordea removed, maliciously and with premeditation, its fraudulent advertising from its website.
- Expert Witness testimony by a reputed Malaga-based Tax Advisor.
- Testimony by the broker that acted for Nordea, in Denia.
- Request to Nordea to provide the Court with a same document that is on the website that was subsequently removed.
Nordea’s legal representative, on the contrary, did not submit any evidence in support of their position which, considering that the specific law employed in this action (misleading advertising) imposes on them the burden of proving the accuracy of their advertising, might have left them bereft of any legal argument other than an unlikely statute of limitation, particularly considering that they were still advertising…1 month ago.
The Court was not impressed with the allegations that Nordea removed crucial information from their website, an allegation that their lawyer was seemingly not aware of (a textbook case of a client being dishonest with his own lawyer!).
Also, the presiding Judge challenged the objection raised by Nordea’s defence that contended that Nordea Bank S.A. and Nordea Bank Switzerland Branch were 2 separate entities, arguing that it is not admissible to isolate the activities of both `banks´when they share common infrastructure, use the same lawyers, the same staff at the Marbella Representation Office (our good friend Jesper Hertz) and moreover, when the Swiss website (www.nordea.ch) directs traffic for private banking to the Luxembourg main branch.
Unfortunately, the Court has set the hearing for April 2015 (yes, not 2014) which will regrettably allow Nordea, for at least the next year and half, to carry on with their tax fraud activities in Spain.
