‘Robin Hood of the Banks’ to RT: We'll create different world with our own rules

Enric Duran, dubbed the ‘Spanish Robin Hood of the Banks’, for swindling 39 banks out of half a million euros to redistribute them to organizations fighting against the established financial system, spoke to RT Spanish to reveal his moves and motives.

In hiding for more than a year, and in serious trouble with the courts, he nonetheless recently decided to break his silence and start speaking to the press to explain his vision and how he went about achieving it. Speaking to RT Spanish by Skype from an undisclosed location, he talks of the ingenious and simple tactic he used to cheat dozens of banks out of a half-million euros.

“I realized that loans below 6,000 euro don’t show up in Spain’s bank database,” he says, revealing the first step on the way to accumulating the fortune that later earned him his moniker.

“As soon as I realized this, I started taking out loans of a little over 5,000 euro, accumulating a certain amount over time. Then, having transferred the whole sum to a single account, and having the ability to prove my financial eligibility, I started taking out bigger credit. It was very convenient to take advantage of the fact that Spain doesn’t update its banking database for months on end. That is how, from December 2007 to January 2008 I was able to take out the bulk of the money,” Duran explained.

The anti-capitalist takes pride in his actions against the banking system and believes that they are another step towards networking between other anti-capitalists and the setting up of organizations that can work together toward a global system that is not accountable to the established financial order.

From 2006 until 2008, Duran took out 68 commercial and personal loans from 39 banks in Spain and gave the money to social activities, like financing conferences against capitalism and providing cameras for an alternative TV channel.

“We wish to create a different world, with our own rules and principles, without a global responsibility to the modern system,” he said of his dream vision. “I knew for a fact that my actions could result in legal measures against me.”

After spending 2 months in jail, Duran was freed on 50,000 euro bail in February 2013 to face trial. After being convicted he decided to abscond rather than face eight years behind bars.

“I had reasons not to appear at the proceedings. I had presented the regional court with 30 pieces of evidence in support of my case, but it refused every single one of them. On top of that, I only learned about the trial three weeks before the fact, instead of four months in advance, when it was being planned.”

Duran now continues to work towards his goals from a far-away location, his current project being the development of the Catalan Integral Cooperative – a transnational initiative that puts emphasis on self-development and management, as well as networking and problem solving without the involvement of banks and other types of regulation. It’s strictly by the people, for the people.