ARCHIVED - Just 3 years behind bars for Murcia man described as the best banknote forger in Spain

Juan Pedro González Sánchez was found in possession of fake notes with a face value of millions of euros

Over three years since the trial began in Murcia of the biggest and, according to the authorities, the best banknote forger in Spain, he has been sentenced to just three years in prison and fined a mere 300,000 euros after a plea bargaining deal was reached at the national courts in Madrid.

Juan Pedro González Sánchez is considered by the Policía Nacional to be the most prolific forger of banknotes in Spain and one of the most important in Europe, and has been arrested on three separate occasions. Each time he was found to be in possession of notes with a face value of millions of euros ready to distribute into public circulation, and if found guilty of all charges he could have faced up to 15 years in jail.

González Sánchez was first arrested in May 2007, when the police found that approximately 8 million euros’ worth of fake banknotes were being made at his fruit and vegetable canning factory in Beniaján, just outside the regional capital of Murcia. The 50-euro notes were of such high quality that even the European Central Bank warned that they represented a real danger to society.

At this point the police reckoned that González Sánchez had been involved in falsifying legal tender for around ten years, and after three million euros of his products were traced and confiscated he spent 14 months behind bars awaiting trial. On his conditional release, though, he showed no sign of having repented, and in 2011 he was arrested again in possession of 1.5 million euros’ worth of notes ready for distribution and another 1.5 million still in the production phase.

As well as the printing presses and other equipment being used by the forger, the police also found over a ton of hashish, and 13 suspected collaborators were also placed under arrest.

It was not until March 2016 that the trial related to his first arrest in 2007 was set, but he failed to appear and was not located in a chalet in San Pedro del Pinatar until four months later. Here he was found to be continuing his forgeries, and another 2 million euros’ worth of fakes were confiscated as he was arrested for a third time and sent back to prison.

When his trial began in Murcia early in 2017 González Sánchez faced a potential prison sentence of at least ten years and fines totalling over 10 million euros, but in return for an admission of guilt those punishments have been substantially reduced. Nonetheless, if he chooses to pay the 300,000 euros greed upon in cash it can be assumed that the notes he uses will be subjected to minute scrutiny!

In the meantime, though, González Sánchez’s lawyer, Evaristo Llanos Sola, hopes to prove that the trial should be considered null and void on technicalities.

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