Statement by Eric Lewis, attorney for Ramon and Higini Cierco, in Response Andorran Press Conference

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- "Today the Andorran Government has demonstrated what we have known all along – they had no justification to expropriate Banca Privada d'Andorra (BPA) from the Cierco Family.  After nearly a year, and tens of millions of taxpayer funds spent, there has not been a single prosecution or enforcement action against a customer that Andorra claims to be money laundering. 

In today's press conference of Andorra's Council of Ministers, the government walked back its position on the 923 BPA accounts that were falsely described yesterday as suspicious. Today, the finance minster admitted that he had not reviewed the PwC report and that the 923 accounts referenced yesterday are merely unable to be transferred to Vall Banc, and not indicative of money laundering. 

What Andorra and PwC have shown is that .3% of the bank customers have been identified as showing patterns that warrant further investigation, which is the same number that BPA had identified to the Andorran government for investigation and were blocked long before the bank was illegally and immorally seized by the government. 

As the Andorran government and two accounting firms had certified, BPA had a robust AML program and was proactive in reporting and blocking accounts.  Hundreds of jobs and hundreds of millions of euros in value have been lost for nothing.

The only path to justice is for the government to cease its closed-door dealings, become completely transparent, and release the full findings of PwC's lengthy and costly investigation."