The wheel for BBVA employees to denounce the entity for spying on them, and that it has come to light thanks to the 'Villarejo case', has already started. From the main unions that represent the employees of the entity, CCOO and CGT, they assure this newspaper that they seek to gather enough material about the alleged punctures to the corporate phones and follow-up of the emails of the employees to denounce the bank.
The sentiment between unions and bank workers is unanimous. “No wonder they spied on us”, is indicated from one of the organizations of workers' representatives. And from the opposite union they repeat it: “The bank denies the listeners, but we are not surprised”. In addition, both from CCOO and from CGT are convinced that, as unions, they have suffered punctures due to their more frequent relationship with the press.
According to the summary of the investigation into the hiring by BBVA of the ex-commissioner José Manuel Villarejo and published El País, the entity would have spied on the communications of its employees to know if there was a mole among them that leaked information to the press. The bank has limited itself to denying these facts to the workers, however, its word is not enough. “We hope to have more summary data to see if it has occurred,” they say.
However, its perception is that the entity would not have carried out a massive espionage of all employees, but a specific group at a given time to find out the origin of the leaks.
CGT also points out that they already denounced another company for the same issue. Specifically, the organization has already filed legal actions against Iberdrola for illegal espionage by the ex-commissioner of two trade unionists of the Cofrentes Nuclear Power Plant, within the so-called 'Arrow project'. In this case, the company hired the ex-commissioner to try to unlock the opening of its combined cycle plant in Arcos de la Frontera (Cádiz), which led to spying on judges, politicians and environmentalists.
Template Concern
The common feeling of BBVA employees for the hiring of Villarejo between 2004 and 2017 is of “concern.” “We don't know how the matter will end”, says one of the workers, although he also acknowledges that the case has not taken its toll on the banking business.
The entity has held “a couple” of a meeting with its staff, the last one in September, to inform them of the evolution of the case, although from the representatives of the workers it is indicated that they limit themselves to saying that they collaborate with justice and that they do not they can give information to the findings they make because it is under summary secret.
However, and paradoxically, the entity acknowledges in several writings sent to the former president of the Castellana Norte District (DCN) and former Chief of Risks, Antonio Béjar, between July and September 2019 that the internal investigation -forensic- is not subject to the summary secret .
BBVA mocked the ECB for not giving the forensic to allege judicial secrecy