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A court in the Castilla-La Mancha region of Spain has sentenced a woman to two years in prison and a 78,643.72-euro fine for concealing her husband's death from the Social Security authorities, the bank and his heirs, in order to continue collecting his pension. She abused her status as an authorised person to carry out cash withdrawals and card payments for six years after her partner's death in Ecuador.
The sentence was initially issued by the provincial court of Guadalajara. It has now been confirmed by the regional court of Castilla-La Mancha, which has also declared BBVA to be vicariously liable for what happened, despite the bank's request to be acquitted on all charges.
Although the report does not expressly state that the bank did not check or request verification of the beneficiary's status, the judges accused BBVA of "total lack of action" in the necessary processes. According to the court, the bank did not monitor the situation, nor did it ask the provincial authorities for assistance.
"The disposal by the defendant of the amounts paid by the Treasury in respect of retirement pension in the current account of which she was the holder (...), would not have occurred if BBVA had complied with the obligation imposed in article 17.5 OMTSS," the judges stated.
However, the civil and criminal court stated that this article does not leave the control of the beneficiaries' continued existence solely in the hands of the banking entities that handle the direct deposit of their benefits. Instead, it offers the paying entity the option to request that the respective provincial directorate of the Social Security require "all or some of the account holders receiving deposits to provide proof of life".
Nonetheless, the court concluded that, "despite the fact that almost six years had elapsed since the death of the account holder, the defendant continued to have undue use of the account (...). And this is solely and exclusively attributable to the bank for failing to comply with the obligation to notify the Social Security - at least annually, as required by article 17.5 OMTSS - of whether the current account holder was alive; and it is so until February 2021, the date on which it notified the entity managing the benefits that it was no longer making the pension payment due to the death of the holder".
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