Spanish foreign minister fined for insider trading

Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell has been fined 30,000 euros for the use of privileged information in the sale of shares in the Spanish technology company "Abengoa", according to the Spanish Official State Bulletin (BOE) published on Tuesday.

Borrell is a member of the Board of Directors of Abengoa and sold 10,000 shares in the company on Nov. 24, 2015, just 24 hours before the company announced it was opening bankruptcy proceedings.

The value of Abengoa's shares fell by 52.07 percent the day after Borrell sold his shares and by a further 29.72 percent the following day, leading Spain's National Commission of Market Values (CNMV) to open an investigation in July 2017.

The CNMV considered Borrell's action to be a "very serious infraction" of inside trading rules given that the foreign minister's position in the company meant that he "had privileged information" about the company's internal situation.

The Spanish media report that Borrell will not appeal against the fine, although he will present a letter to the CNMV expressing his disagreement with its conclusions.