The big bank closes ranks to be in the mousetrap to have financed the state compensation for the closure of Castor and now stay without the right to charge for a subsequent sentence of the Constitutional Court. Santander, CaixaBank and Bankia have presented this Friday before the Ministry of Energy a "claim of responsibility of the State legislator" in which they argue "unjust enrichment of the State", according to banking sources consulted by this newspaper. In it they request the return of the amount financed that has not yet been recovered, plus the damages caused by the investment of 1,350 million euros that they made when they took over the debt to pay the compensation for the closure of the storage of Castor gas. to the Escal-UGS promoter company, owned by ACS. They are based on Law 40/2015 of the Legal System of Public Administrations that provides for the State's patrimonial responsibility "provided that the injury is a consequence of the normal or abnormal operation of public services except in cases of force majeure or damages that the individual have the legal duty to support in accordance with the Law ".
The fact is that even Bankia, whose first shareholder is the State, participates in the claim, because it also did so in financing the compensation to the group presided over by Florentino Pérez .
The claim made by the entities explains that the unconstitutionality of the Royal Decree-law, decreed on December 22 by a ruling of the Constitutional Court, should not cause "any loss" to who has financed the public powers to provide a measure of interest general.
In this sense, they state that if they do not receive the refund of the financing, the State would benefit from the unconstitutionality at the expense of the financing entities . The Council of State must pronounce on this point.
The sources consulted assure that the entities are really looking for an agreement with the Government and are willing to provide payment facilities so as not to make the gas bill suddenly expensive or to damage the public accounts.
According to Europa Press recalls, in 2014, the Government approved a royal decree law establishing the hibernation of the underground gas storage of Castor and in which this compensation was recognized for the promoter company, whose amount was decided to reverberate for 30 years in the gas rate.
In October of that year, Santander, CaixaBank and Bankia disbursed more than 1,350 million euros to finance the closure of the Castor natural gas warehouse, after a series of earthquakes aroused great social alarm in Castellón and Tarragona.Of these 1,350 million euros of debt securitized by Enagás, Santander assumed 700 million, CaixaBank a total of 450 million and Bankia the remaining 200 million.
In this way, these three entities are the holders of these collection rights, amounting to around 80 million euros per year during that period of 30 years . JUDGMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL
However, last December, the Constitutional Court declared "null and unconstitutional" some articles of the royal decree law passed in 2014 that contemplated Castor's hibernation and which recognized the compensation of 1,350 million euros for the promoter company Escal UGS.
In its judgment, the Court did not enter into the fund of the compensation received by Escal UGS for the decision adopted on Castor, focusing more on the substance of how that compensation was made through the approval of a Royal Decree of urgency.
Last January, the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) decided, after the ruling of the Constitutional Court, to stop the payments to the bank for this debt, which amounted to 6.7 million euros per month and were paid as charge to the gas system. A "HUGE LITIGATION"
At the end of last January, in attendance at the Congress of Deputies, the Minister of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda, Álvaro Nadal , predicted a "huge litigation" between private entities and public operators by the ruling of the Constitutional Court.
In this regard, Nadal noted that the Ministry moved in January to the CNMC, which is the one that has the competence in the liquidations of the gas system, to comply with the ruling, as it did in the liquidation corresponding to November.
"Right now we have an effect of the sentence that says that Castor's expense can not be considered as part of the regulated costs and we ask the CNMC to apply the ruling".
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