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The Spanish judiciary is investigating two former Abengoa executives for breach of trust and misuse of insider information, legal sources said on Friday.
Abengoa’s former chairman Felipe Benjumeale Llorente and ex-managing director Manuel Sanchez Ortega left the troubled renewable energy giant shortly before it declared itself close to bankruptcy last month, pocketing severance payments of several millions of euros each.
The timing of their departure, the payments and their management practices may amount to “breach of trust and use of privileged information”, according to a judge at Spain’s specialist financial crimes judiciary.
The judge has also requested that both men post bail of 11.5 million and 4.5 million euros, respectively.
The prosecutor’s office on Wednesday gave its green light for the probe.
Abengoa, Spain’s flagship company for sustainable energy, filed for protection from its creditors late last month, giving it four months to find a solution to its astronomical debt, or go bankrupt and become Spain’s biggest-ever corporate failure.
Earlier Friday, its creditor banks agreed to inject enough fresh funds to keep the company afloat for about a month.
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