Will Enrico Macias one day put an end to the conflict between him and his old bank? For many years, the singer has been in dispute against the Landsbanki bank, which claims the sum of 30 million euros. Remember, in 2007, Enrico Macias had obtained from this bank a loan of approximately 30 million euros which had enabled him “to invest in Madoff funds”, named Bernard Madoff, sentenced in 2009 to 150 years jailed in the United States for the biggest financial scam in history.
Following the bankruptcy of the bank, the singer had been forced to put his villa in Saint-Tropez into mortgage and try to obtain the cancellation of his loan. In March 2019, the justice of Luxembourg had unfortunately condemned the singer to reimburse the 30 million euros to the bank despite the bankruptcy. Determined not to pay this immense sum, the singer had seized the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which has just found him right.
In a judgment published a few days ago, the ECHR ruled that the Luxembourg court of cassation violated provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights on the “right to a fair trial”. As a result, the judges of the ECHR condemned Luxembourg to pay him 12,000 euros for “non-pecuniary damage” … a small victory knowing that Enrico Macias had asked for 15 million euros in compensation. “It is a victory of principle and esteem for Enrico Macias. Even if the path is narrow, Enrico Macias now has no choice but to use this European conviction (of Luxembourg) to seek to obtain a review of his own conviction by the Luxembourg courts. Unfortunately, his legal ordeal is not over“, said his lawyer Patrice Spinosi in a statement to AFP.”The decision on this essential point is eminently disappointing “and the compensation” totally derisory in view of the damage.“, he added.
Eleanor de la Fontaine