Bonaventura Castellanos does not hold a grudge against Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. Asked about this by his lordship, he testified that there is no friendship or enmity but only pain. And a deep disappointment. He was a friend of his father, a lawyer for a tennis player whom he watched grow up, and protected his interests for many years. But when Arantxa rebelled the year after they got married, she made no difference: she took him to court, as did her parents, Emilio Sánchez and Marisa Vicario, and her brother, Javier.
The athlete lost the two lawsuits filed, in Spain and Andorra, and although she reconciled with part of her family - her father, who died in 2016, did not know her forgiveness or see the breakup with José Santacana - the man who He took care of his assets as if it were his own daughter's and continues to wait for a sincere apology. Always dedicated to sport, she does not believe she is capable of plotting decapitalization to avoid the Bank of Luxembourg that today puts her on the bench, but she also does not find an excuse for such ungrateful and cruel behavior towards her family for years.
The lawyer testified last Wednesday at the request of José Santacana's defense and shone before the head of the Criminal Court No. 25 of Barcelona. Castellanos does not quite understand, he explains to La Vanguardia, why he was called, since his testimony could not be in any way useful for the interests of the accused: when the tennis player broke up with her family to blindly trust her husband, her work of decades and his ability and advice also went down the drain. And he continues to be perplexed by having to answer about his efforts regarding Arantxa's assets after 2009. “That question was an insult to intelligence: after the resignation before a notary, neither Arantxa's parents nor I had the capacity or powers. And on top of that we were sued! But I want to add, in any case, that until that date Arantxa's heritage was intact."
The lawyer says that shortly after becoming a mother, the tennis player decided to change her will. That day, on the way to the notary, Arantxa ordered him to revoke the general powers that her parents exercised over her funds and companies. Her relationship with them had been cooling but the lawyer could hardly believe it when she Arantxa admitted that she had not even informed him of this previously. There was no way to convince her that this was not a good idea and certainly unfair to those who had protected her all her life. Castellanos tried to make her understand that, if there was no turning back from her, at least she would use the formula of resignation, more prudent and elegant than the strict and harsh revocation of it.
“In the same act in which Emilio and Marisa renounced the general powers over companies, funds and real estate in their names, I renounced mine, which were not devices but those necessary to elevate any record to a public document.” It was in November 2009. Of his lifelong trusted team, only the administrator, Francisco Oró, was left standing: the law states that a commercial company cannot be beheaded and until a new administrator comes in (the procedures are not immediate ), someone must maintain continuity in office.
Thus, at the end of 2009, Santacana had gained control of his wife's companies. “The first day that Francisco Oró went to the bank with Santacana – Arantxa never accompanied him – was to ask him to eliminate all direct debits for supplies, telephone, etc. from the Diagonal Avenue apartment and I seem to remember that the apartment was also S’Agaró. The second time, to make a refund of 50,000 euros 'because they were going away for the weekend'. Oró stood up. He told him that with Mr. Sánchez he had only gone to the bank for a very specific issue and never to withdraw money, so he expressed his willingness to also renounce his powers,” recalls Bonaventura Castellanos.
José Santacana, explains Arantxa's former lawyer, called the administrator again, very proud of having found a solution: this consisted of Oró signing blank refunds for him. “During my statement they even asked me why I thought Oró had resigned. As? It was more than obvious! Who in their right mind would sign anything blank?”
This is how Castellanos remembers how Santacana entered Arantxa's life, with whom he remains very hurt, and why he believes he has been summoned to testify: “This boy knew the real estate market because he came from working in auctions with José Guindulain, that unfortunate man who ended up taking his life. He went from having debts to managing a very important asset, with her consent, obviously. Until what we are unfortunately seeing has happened. I believe that the origin of Mr. Santacana's hostility towards me does not come so much from my advice to subject him to prior surveillance - nothing substantive came of the assignment to Method 3 - but from another issue: the day Emilio and Marisa renounced the powers, I asked Mr. Oró to establish his parents' right of use and habitation over the Diagonal apartment, where they lived. He did everything possible to protect them; "I was afraid of what could happen and I was not wrong."
