FIVE former managers of the north-western bank Novacaixagalicia have been sent to prison for two years for giving themselves multi-million 'golden handshakes' before leaving the high-street entity.
Gregorio Gorriarán, Julio Fernández Gayoso, José Luis Pego, Óscar Rodríguez Estrada and Ricardo Pradas (pictured left to right) were given exactly two years behind bars, since just one day less than this would mean if they had not committed any previous offences, their sentence would have been suspended.
Gayoso was chairman of Caixanova, later absorbed by Novacaixagalicia Banco, and Pradas was the latter's legal advisor, with the other three being senior managers.
None of the five has refunded the money, as they were initially instructed to do by the National Court, and they all feature in other legal cases currently open.
It was the National Court which turned down an application by the bank managers' defence lawyers to suspend their sentences, handed down by a lower tribunal.
In fact, the Supreme Court, the highest in the land, ruled that the two-year jail terms were 'disproportionately lenient' given the 'seriousness' of the offenders' conduct.
Their early retirement pay-offs, which the five managers each decided to award themselves indiscriminately and without any reference to precedent or company policy, made them all multi-millionaires in their 50s and early 60s, and right at the height of the financial crisis gripping the country.
Novacaixagalicia received a €9-billion-plus bail-out at around the same time to stop it from going under, which came directly out of the taxpayer's pocket and, even with the surplus refunded, still cost the ordinary resident over €8bn.
