The Palma court has judged a 66-year-old Dutch businessman accused of manipulating the accounts of a hotel company in Sóller to harm his ex-wife. The accused denies the charges and claims it was she who emptied the accounts.
A 66-year-old Dutch hotelier sat on Thursday in the dock of the First Section of the Palma court accused of a corporate crime. The prosecution is seeking three years in prison and a fine of 4,320 euros for having falsified the accounts of the company he ran with his ex-wife, a rural hotel in Sóller, in the Serra de Tramuntana. The man, who has no prior convictions, denied acting with the intent to harm her.
The origin of the conflict: two transfers of 62,500 euros
According to the accusation, on September 29, 2014, the ex-wife made two transfers from the company for an amount of 62,500 euros each, one to the accused's account and another to her own. On the same day, she withdrew 30,000 euros in cash from his account. The businessman stated that he did not consent to these operations: “Five minutes after the transfer, I received a call from the bank telling me that she was withdrawing that money,” he declared before the court.
The accused explained that these amounts were declared by his ex-wife as a loan from the company to each of them, but he rejected it. “I did not consent to it,” he emphasised. In his statement, the hotelier insisted that he could not return the amount because she had kept 30,000 euros in cash. “If she had not made that transfer, which I did not want, I would not be sitting here now,” he stated during his final remarks.
The defence: “She emptied the accounts and took everything”
The accused's lawyer, who also handles the matrimonial economic regime, argued that the woman had acknowledged debts with the company and that it was she who emptied the accounts. “She empties her husband's accounts, her own, and the company's and distributes it and transfers to other accounts. These dissipations are reflected in the matrimonial liquidation process,” the lawyer pointed out. The man is claiming one million euros from his ex-wife on that basis.
The Dutch businessman denied having falsified the economic situation of the company, which manages a well-known rural hotel on the outskirts of Sóller. “I have not kept any money from the company or from my ex-wife,” he insisted. He added that his lawyer advised him to report her, but he refused because “she is the mother of my daughters.”
Prosecution and private accusation requests
The prosecution requests three years in prison and a fine of twelve months at the rate of twelve euros a day for a corporate crime. In terms of civil liability, it raised the request to 62,500 euros. The public prosecutor highlighted that the accused, as liquidator of the company, caused harm to both the company and his partner.
The private accusation, on behalf of the ex-wife, demands five years in prison for accounting fraud in conjunction with misappropriation. The lawyer for the accusation emphasised: “It is unacceptable to modify or falsify accounts to the detriment of my client.” The trial has been concluded and awaits a verdict. The resident of Sóller and the rest of Mallorca remain attentive to a resolution that could set a precedent in cases of corporate disputes between ex-partners.
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