A former chairman of one of Spain’s largest banks has been found dead with a gunshot wound to the chest.
The body of Miguel Blesa was found beside a car at a private estate in Villanueva del Rey in the southern province of Cordoba.
Witnesses who were with the former banker at the estate told police he left the group early on Wednesday morning, saying he was going to move his car.
They said a single gunshot was heard moments later, police announced.
Authorities have ruled out murder and are now investigating whether his death was an accident or suicide.
Mr Blesa was chairman of Caja Madrid until it merged with seven other domestic saving banks in 2010 to create Bankia SA.
Image: Miguel Blesa attends court in 2016
Bankia was partially nationalised by the Spanish government in 2012 and bailed out for 18 billion euro (£16bn).
In February the 69-year-old was sentenced to six years in jail for misusing the saving bank’s corporate credit cards.
Former International Monetary Fund chied Rodrigo Rato, who chaired Bankia between 2010 and 2012, was also sentenced to four-and-a-half-years in prison.
They were among 65 defendants found guilty of hiding irregular and undeclared expenses with the cards.
The two bankers appealed against their sentences and had been released on bail while the case was resolved.
In 2013 Mr Blesa was the first prominent banker to go to prison since the start of Spain’s financial crisis.
He was briefly jailed as part of an inquiry into the purchase of shares in the City of National Bank of Floria at an inflated price.
But he was released after only a few days and a court later acquitted him.
Mr Blesa was also in the middle of a lawsuit involving irregular bonuses during his time at Caja Madrid.
Source: Sky