Billionaire art collector is fined £44million and sentenced to 18 months in prison for trying to smuggle a Picasso out of Spain
- Jaime Botin, 83, took ‘Head of a Young Woman’ to Corsica on his yacht in 2015
- Botin, great grandson of the Santander founder, was rumbled at French customs
- Botin was in breach of ban on exporting works of cultural significance to Spain
- He is not likely to serve a custodial sentence on account of his advanced years
A billionaire art collector has been fined £44million and sentenced to 18 months in prison for trying to smuggle a Picasso out of Spain on his yacht.
Jaime Botin, 83, the great grandson of the founder of Spain’s largest bank Santander, was rumbled by French customs when his yacht arrived on the island of Corsica in 2015.
They discovered Picasso’s ‘Head of a Young Woman’, a 1906 painting valued at £22million, stowed away on the vessel by the ship’s captain.
Prosecutors argued Botin had been attempting to sell it abroad, in breach of rules over paintings of cultural significance to Spain. But Botin denied the charges and claimed he was simply taking it to Switzerland for safe-keeping.
Jaime Botin, 83, the great grandson of the founder of Spain’s largest bank Santander, was rumbled by French customs when his yacht arrived on the island of Corsica in 2015 (pictured: outside the court in Madrid in 2017)
Botin had inquired about selling the painting, which depicts a woman with sharp features and long black hair, to Christie’s in 2012.
But the London auctioneer had replied that Botin would require permission from the Spanish government for it to go on sale, Madrid’s High Court said in its ruling on Thursday.
Despite this, the court said, Botin took the painting to the Mediterranean port city of Valencia and ordered the captain of his yacht to ‘hide it from authorities’.
The painting resurfaced in 2015 when French customs, working in tandem with Spanish authorities, discovered it in the yacht captain’s cabin during a stopover in Corsica.
The verdict, which can be appealed, also transferred ownership of the painting to the Spanish state.
The painting, which depicts a woman with sharp features and long black hair, is worth £22million
Botin’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
Botin was chairman of Bankinter from 1986 to 2002. He maintains a significant interest in the bank through Cartival, an investment vehicle shared between him and his sons.
Cartival is the largest shareholder in Spain’s fifth-largest bank by market value with a stake of 23%.