Santander chairman and family face a tax probe
EMILIO Botin, the chairman of Santander, the Eurozone’s largest bank, and his family face a probe into their tax affairs, Spain’s High Court said yesterday.
An official investigation into the tax contributions of brothers Emilio and Jaime Botin, along with their 10 children, was opened before the case, which dates back to 2005, exceeded the period allowed by the statute of limitations.
The Botin family, whose deposits at a Swiss private banking division caught the eye of the tax authorities after a massive leak of private banking data from the unit, have presented declarations to prove their tax situations are normal.
“Given the impossibility of evaluating the declarations within the time period, the investigation is necessary,” investigating judge Fernando Andreu said in a statement.
Judge Andreu said the total amount of potentially unpaid taxes being investigated is over €120,000, but noted that if the declarations presented by the family are bona fide, the case will be dropped.
One of the Botin family being investigated, Ana Patricia Botin, is the head of Santander’s UK banking unit.
A spokesman for the family said the Botins had voluntarily submitted all the necessary fiscal information.