Mario Conde
Mario Antonio Conde Conde (Tuy, Spain 14 September 1948) is a jurist (state advocate), businessman and alleged corrupt Spanish ex-banker.[1]
Conde was the major shareholder and later president of the Spanish Bank of Credit (Banesto) His highly successful business career as well as exemplary public image was ended in December 1993 when he was sentenced to 10 years extended to 20 years of prison by the Spanish High court. He in fact served 11 years before being paroled.[2]
He was president of the political party Civil Society and Democracy from 2011 through 2013.
In April 2016 he was rearrested, along with several family members and put into remand due to a plausible fraudulent movement of capital. A cosmetics company he owns is implicated in the fraud, which combined the lack of payment to some workers with the large quantities of money found circulating offshore.
During the majority of his life, Conde and some important figures of the Spanish society have defended that his arrest, charges, imprisonment and overall downfall was a staged manoeuvre orquestated by several powers, including ex-presidents Felipe Gonzalez and Jose Maria Aznar.[3]
Writer
After exploits with Banesto he founded the magazine MC and has also published several books in Spanish about his experience of power, his life as prisoner, and memoirs of his prison experience, Taoism and various religious beliefs as well as his most demanded work "The System", a long book that details his personal experiences with the supposedly unofficial powers that rule the country from the shadows, those being bankers, politicians, media moguls, and so on.[4]
Bibliography
- Asalto al poder by Jesús Cacho. Where explains how the criminal conspiracy between Abelló and Conde corrupted one of the most important banks in Spain (which subsequently rescued by Santander Bank).
- Duelo of titanes. Jesús Cacho. On the failed fusion of Banesto with the Central Bank.
- M.C. Jesús Cacho. On the intervention of Banesto.Conde, el ángel caído (the fallen angel) by Luis Herrero.