ONO ex-dome will have to pay up to 6 million as long as Vodafone proves that it had to pay invoices in the case of “VAT fraud”

Nine years later, the case of the Vodafone VAT nursery fraud – perpetrated by the phone company’s service providers – continues to circulate through the courts. According to the verdict issued last week by the Civil Council of the Supreme Court, José María Castellano, Rosalía Portela and Carlos Sagasta – at the time they were part of the leadership of ONO, the company that Vodafone bought for 7,200 million euros – will have to pay up to six million euros only if Vodafone can prove that the invoices were paid to the companies involved in said fraud. According to defense sources, the case was brought to the attention of the Ministry of Finance in February 2014, when the Ministry of Finance was investigating the actions of four companies that were ONO suppliers. On April 20, a meeting of inspectors was held with the authorities in the company, but, as it follows from the now known punishment, there could have been unconscionable behavior on their part because they did not take the necessary measures.

The Supreme Court limits the period in which the managers would have to pay the amount Vodafone could not deduct from April 30 to August 31, 2014, but provided that the communications company proves that the invoices have been paid to the above service providers.

Although the sentence does not mention the amount, it was calculated taking into account the analysis presented by Vodafone in one of the tests.

The telecommunications company blames the executives for not acting loyally in order to hide the mentioned fraud. On the other hand, the information available to the legal teams of the executives says that it was they – specifically Rosalía Portela – who warned Vodafone about the situation days before the purchase.

This issue of carousel fraud started with a social responsibility lawsuit in the Commercial Court of Madrid, which dismissed Vodafone’s claim (it demanded 140 million). Immediately after that, the case reached the Provincial Court, which partially accepted Vodafone’s appeal in which it requested the seizure of the property of the three directors worth 18 million euros. Both the telephone company and the managers appealed to the Supreme Court, whose verdict has just been announced and whose costs Vodafone will have to pay.

In 2021, José María Castellano won a lawsuit against Vodafone before the Supreme Court, which had to pay him a net bonus of more than 19 million euros.