Court raises sentence for banker who smuggled a Picasso
Source: AP
MADRID (AP) A Spanish court has raised the sentence against a former bank president found guilty of trying to smuggle a painting by Pablo Picasso out of the country.
The Madrid court announced the decision Tuesday to raise the sentence against fined ex-Bankinter head Jaime Botín to three years instead of 18 months. The move came after the prosecution detected an error in the original sentence handed down last month.
The court also raised the amount Botín was fined from 52.4 million euros ($57. 9 million) to 91.7 million euros.
The trial last year heard how a team of Spanish police experts flew to the French island of Corsica in 2015 to retrieve the painting, Picassos masterpiece Head of a Young Woman. The Spanish government had ruled in 2012 that the painting, which is valued at some 24 million euros ($26.5 million), could not be taken out of the country.
Read more: https://apnews.com/e5fd75321f6b4bf5d75d481c08487379
itcfish
(1,828 posts)So glad they are finally getting punished.
McKim
(2,412 posts)He is well named! Botin is another name for stolen loot!
jayfish
(10,035 posts)Unless you mean by the Spanish government.
The work was owned by Botín, an uncle of Ana Botín, president of the powerful Santander banking group.
In the original sentence, the court awarded the painting to the Spanish state.
Jaime Botin Is Sentenced to Prison in Picasso Smuggling Fiasco
Spain has some of the strictest heritage laws in Europe. Any work of art more than 100 years old that is considered culturally important can be deemed a national treasure, forcing owners to obtain a permit before taking it out of the country. Botin was denied such a permit for the Picasso.
itcfish
(1,828 posts)Allowed to sell the painting outside of Spain becuase he owes Hacienda (Spanish IRS) 200 million Euros in back taxes. Just a thought
The painting, Head of a Young Woman (1906), was seized in 2015 from Botins yacht while it was docked in Corsica while en route to Switzerland. According to El País, Botíns defense acknowledged his attempt to export the painting, but said that his intentions were misunderstood. According to the banker, Head of a Young Woman was in transit to Geneva for safekeeping at the Freeport warehouse complex. His lawyers also said that the artwork could not truly be claimed by the state because it has only spent six months physically within national borders since its initial purchaseBotín bought the Picasso in 1977 in London.
Prosecutors working for the Spanish state allege that Botín, whose family appears on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list, first attempted to authorize an auction of the artwork at a branch of Christies in 2012. (A representative for Christies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) Negotiations between Botín and Christies fell through after Spains Board of Qualification, Valuation and Export of Spanish Historical Heritage Assets declared the piece was one of the few surviving pieces made by Picasso after his Rose Period. It was subsequently classified as non-exportable.
Nitram
(22,671 posts)As well as the return of treasures plundered by other countries. If a country cannot afford to protect a treasure under conditions that will prevent its deterioration or theft, the international community should help finance the proper condition fo preserving the work and making it available for view by the public.