Ex-La Seda CEO Gets off Light in Embezzlement Case

Due to successful plea bargaining, two executives of former Spanish PET producer La Seda de Barcelona, now in liquidation - including former CEO Rafael Español - have escaped severe penalties for embezzlement of company funds and may possibly avoid jail time altogether, Spanish reports say.

Español has pleaded guilty to misappropriation of funds, a charge that carries a penalty of 11 months and 15 days. The prosecutor in the case being heard a Barcelona court had asked for a sentence of 27 years and six months.

The ex-CEO has agreed to pay a fine of €702 million, which is in part restitution for tax evasion.

Español and another manager, Antonio Comadrán, are said to have admitted diverting €12.2 million from La Seda's corporate coffers to other firms in a web of fictitious enterprises.

Six other men involved with companies in the alleged extortion network have accepted penalties of €1,500 and received sentences of seven months in prison. Other cases are still pending against principals of the erstwhile PET market leader, including Español.