Mas brothers on trial in Spain
From Cuba Standard
More than a decade after SINTEL shut down, Spain’s Audiencia Nacional held a first hearing in a trial against Cuban American businessman Jorge Mas Santos over allegations of fraud and embezzlement in connection with the bankruptcy of the Spanish telecom infrastructure company in 2001.
Court proceedings began June 14 in Madrid before Judge Santiago Pedraz, but testimony by Mas Santos is not expected before September, according to the Café Fuerte blog. Even so, a personal appearance may not occur, according to the anti-Castro blog.
Mas Santos is the chairman of Miami-based telecom infrastructure company MasTec, which took over SINTEL in 1996.
He is also chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), an organization that has been very influential in the Obama Administration’s Cuba policy. He is standing trial together with his younger brother Juan Carlos and six other executives. The Mas Santos brothers are sons of the late anti-Castro leader and CANF founder Jorge Mas Canosa.
After years of being the driving force behind Washington’s sanctions against Cuba, CANF four years ago began to advocate modest openings to Cuba such as unlimited family travel, thus earning the scorn of more hardline anti-Castro organizations.
Spanish anti-corruption prosecutors have sought the trial based on charges of fraudulent bankruptcy and crimes against the Spanish revenue service, which eventually produced the collapse of SINTEL, left unpaid debts of 60 million euro, and caused the loss of 1,828 jobs. Prosecutors are seeking five-and-half years of prison for the Mas brothers, and $370 million in damages from the defendants.
The Spanish government has asked U.S. authorities to freeze the defendants’ assets, and Prosecutor José Grinda has asked the Spanish government to inform the Securities and Exchange Commission. MasTec stock is trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The union of SINTEL workers, one of the plaintiffs, said it wants the Spanish government to ask the U.S. government for extradition of the Mas brothers. To underline their demand, telephone workers demonstrated in front of the Madrid court Thursday.
More than 100 witnesses are scheduled to appear.
MasTec bought SINTEL from Spain’s Telefónica in 1996. According to the prosecution’s allegations, laid out on 41 pages, MasTec executives drained SINTEL funds in five transactions via banks in Haiti, Luxemburg, British Virgin Islands, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Switzerland to MasTec accounts in the United States. Eventually, Telefónica cut its ties with SINTEL as a supplier. In 2001, SINTEL declared bankruptcy.
Laid off SINTEL workers then staged a six-month sit-in in Madrid’s financial district, giving the case international visibility.
