Karel Mañasco, ex-CEO of Mansion Group, has been sentenced to one year in prison by the Supreme Court of Gibraltar amid allegations of contempt of court.
Chief Justice Dudley delivered the guilty verdict in a civil case brought forward by both Mansion (Gibraltar) Limited and Onisac Limited.
These latest developments are part of a wider, ongoing legal battle between Mañasco and Mansion Group, with the operator accusing is its former chief executive of misappropriating £5m of company funds, though he has denied those claims.
Mañasco’s list of alleged offences includes unauthorised transactions to fund “ordinary living expenses”, breaches of financial undertakings and making a false witness statement.
Last month, the Supreme Court of Gibraltar issued an arrest warrant for Mañasco after he failed to appear in court for sentencing.
The dispute began in September 2022 when Mansion Group sought damages from the then CEO of £5m, as well as demanding that Mañasco pay compensation for the benefits he received as a result of his position within the company.
Six months later in March 2023, Mañasco was subjected to a worldwide freezing order, designed to prevent him from moving or selling certain assets without notifying the court in advance.
This most recent guilty verdict in the civil case stems from his alleged failure to adhere to that freezing order, with the court noting how Mañasco transferred just shy of £414,000 from an account in Gibraltar to an account held by his wife in Spain.
Chief Justice Dudley described the breach as “egregious”, noting that the flouting of the court order “undermines the rule of law and consequently threatens the administration of justice”.
Mañasco was instructed by the court to adhere to weekly spending limits of £10,000, but was found to have breached that limit, before submitting a false witness statement that undervalued his actual expenditure by £76,887.
The ex-Mansion Group CEO failed to attend multiple court hearings, though last week the court opted to proceed with sentencing using evidence and submissions provided by Mañasco’s legal representatives.
The Supreme Court of Gibraltar found Mañasco guilty of five out of seven counts of contempt of court, with Chief Justice Dudley ruling that the breaches, particularly the false witness statement, warranted a concurrent custodial sentence of 12 months, albeit with the possibility of a reduction to six months should he return the £413,896.
The judge noted Mañasco’s prior good character as a mitigating factor, but the said the seriousness of the violations and his previous “poor compliance with court orders”, deemed a suspension of the sentence as inappropriate.
Mañasco is entitled to appeal the verdict within 14 days without court permission.
His legal representative has informed EGR that the decision is already subject to appeal.
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Supreme Court of Gibraltar hits Karel Mañasco with 12-month sentence after “egregious” breach of freezing orders
The post Ex-Mansion Group CEO sentenced to year in prison over contempt of court first appeared on EGR Intel.