Since
the bursting of the housing market bubble in 2008 and its devastating
and perverse impact on poor families in many countries, including
Spain, a constant struggle has been developed by its victims against
the mortgage fraud implemented by the financial entities in the
financial system with the approval and support of various state
agencies.
Hundreds
of thousands of families have lost their homes due to foreclosure
proceedings which are null and void in fact and violate the law
recognized by the EU legislation itself. Besides losing their house
and all the family savings invested in housing, families have been
left with a huge debt due to the overvaluation of their homes, the
financial costs and the legal fees.
These
evictions of foreclosed families without alternative housing
constitute a clear violation of human rights, which has been
tolerated by the various powers of the Spanish State.
In
addition, financial institutions have taken over all the assets and
savings that families have been spending for years to pay for
housing.
When
the people affected by mortgage fraud run out of family heritage and
still have a huge unpayable debt inscribed for life in defaulter’s
records, they have been thrown into economic and social exclusion, in
the same way a number of other services and rights have been
affected.
In
recent times several hedge funds like Blackstone, Centerbridge,
Cerberus, Apollo, Marathon and Castlelake have made their presence
known in Spain, to manage real estate assets belonging to financial
institutions, comprising houses, seized from families ruined by
mortgages, which have been fraudulently taken over by banks at
ridiculous prices, as well as bad debt of companies participating in
the housing bubble. So far, they are handling a volume of €277,000
million from the real estate business.
The
presence of such predatory financial actors has also been felt in the
acquisition of public housing dedicated to social purposes. Goldman
Sachs, Blackstone, and Azora have acquired nearly 5,000 homes of this
type.
Under
these circumstances, the Madrid Platform of People Affected by
Mortgage (PAH Madrid) has proposed to continue the fight including
the TRIAL AND PUNISHMENT campaign to point out the guilty people in
mortgage scam and underline their responsibilities.
These
actions are part of the Social Audit of the Mortgage Fraud, because
as we have seen over the years, the state responsible for defending
citizens and ensuring respect for the rights of this important group
has not met its responsibility but has chosen to protect the
interests of the banks. Therefore, it is the citizenship, social
organizations, and professionals with social sensitivity and social
commitment who have taken over the task to develop the audit of this
serious process that has brought ruin to millions of families within
the Spanish state.
This
audit also includes participatory research activities in the
financial and legal framework, and is also associated with social
studies, inquiries of psychological impact, etc.
PAH
Madrid conducts these processes because the victims of this scam, and
society as a whole, have the right to know the truth: what happened,
who was involved in it and who allowed it and which were the
committed violations, illegalities, abuses, etc. and the
corresponding responsibilities.
Our
intention is to take the partial and overall results of this audit,
plus the evidence provided by the victims, to court and require
sanction and punishment for the guilty. The legal action has already
been launched and legal proceedings have been initiated against three
financial institutions, which will be expanded in the future to
others responsible for the scam.
Another
objective is to demand reparations for victims, compensate for the
damages caused and demand compliance of the rights violated.
Finally,
there must be a guarantee of non-repetition, both through the
necessary legal and institutional reforms, and through the education
and monitoring and supervision of the relevant authorities.
The
fundamental pillar on which we will support this enormous task is the
organization and social mobilization at different levels and spaces,
in different territories; we will keep our organized presence and
activities of denunciation and signaling, resistance, research and
solidarity with other social struggles.
As
part of all this diverse and multiple process, at this stage we seek
to highlight the role and responsibility of international banks in
the housing bubble and the mortgage scam implemented in recent
decades in Spain. We are already committed to this job and we invite
and asked you to join us, as the financial and real estate fraud has
been developed and continues to develop at European and global level,
with the necessary complicity of major global financial institutions.
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