The cultural entity and the Orferò Català have rescued 12 of the 23 million euros diverted by its former president and by his former right-hand man, Jordi Montull
The Palau de la Música and the Orfeó Català have recovered 12 of the 23 million euros from the looting perpetrated by its former president, Fèlix Millet, and by his deputy, Jordi Montull, almost five years after the conviction handed down by the Court of Barcelona, which continues to search for the assets of those convicted to complete the liquidation process. Millet was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison and a fine of 4.1 million euros and Montull to seven and a half years in prison and a fine of 2.9 million.
In the first six months of the execution phase of the sentence, the Court of Section 10 of the Barcelona Court recovered nine million euros, to which in the last two years another almost three million have been added, with which it has been possible to return more than half of the plundered 23 million. Specifically, to date, the Orfeó Català-Palau de la Música Private Foundation and the Orfeó Català Association have recovered more than 6 million euros from its former president Millet, 1.6 million from Jordi Montull, almost 3 million euros from Marta Vallès – Millet’s deceased wife – and her daughters, as heirs, and almost 0.8 million from former financial director Gemma Montull. In addition, the convicted have also already paid more than 160,000 euros to the Public Treasury.
A court in Barcelona has recently opened another investigation into Millet and Montull for allegedly hiding income from the rental of their seized properties to avoid compensating the Palau for the 23 million looted. This is the second case that has been opened to the former heads of the Palau for allegedly attempting to circumvent their obligation to compensate the Palau de la Música: Millet is being investigated by a court in Granollers (Barcelona) for the disappearance of assets seized from his house – a piano tail and some ivory tusks, among others – and Montull is already awaiting trial for hiding the income he received from the rent of a repossessed property.
The CDC condemnation
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At the same time, the Fundació Palau de la Música has appeared in the bankruptcy proceeding presented by the extinct CDC -which is in the hands of the mercantile court number 9 of Barcelona-, with the intention of recovering the 6.6 million euros that the party pocketed through the payment of commissions from Ferrovial through the cultural entity.
During the investigation of the Palau case, the judge seized a total of 22 farms from the CDC – whose treasurer Daniel Osàcar was sentenced to three and a half years in prison – to cover the civil responsibilities derived from the embezzlement, but the Supreme Court ruled that these properties must be destined to the creditors in the contest that takes the mercantile court before to those harmed by the looting of the cultural entity. These seized estates have become part of the bankruptcy estate, which drastically reduces the Palau’s chances of recovering from the plunder through the commercial process, given that other creditors may be considered priorities.