Vodafone España is now in a position to file an appeal for protection (recurso de amparo) before the Tribunal Constitucional, after the Audiencia Provincial de Alicante rejected the incident of nullity of proceedings (incidente de nulidad de actuaciones) promoted by the operator to try to regain control of Wewi Mobile, the parent company that operates the Finetwork brand.
The telecommunications multinational resorted to this exceptional procedural mechanism with the purpose of nullifying the recent judicial resolution that invalidated the restructuring plan through which Vodafone had come to hold the majority of the capital of the Alicante company, according to Europa Press.
The incident of nullity empowers to request the same court that issued a firm resolution to nullify its own decisions when a possible violation of fundamental rights is observed during the processing of the procedure.
Likewise, this instrument constitutes an essential prior step to be able to subsequently resort to the Tribunal Constitucional through an appeal for protection (recurso de amparo).
Sources from Vodafone España have stressed that the filing of the incident responded exactly to that procedural strategy.
"We have filed an incident of nullity, an exceptional procedural appeal that allows requesting the same judicial body that issued a firm resolution to annul judicial actions because a violation of fundamental rights has occurred during the procedure. Furthermore, it is a necessary and prior step to resort to the Tribunal Constitucional," company sources have indicated.
The operator has remarked that the resolution that nullified the restructuring plan represents an "unprecedented and surprising" decision, by introducing legal uncertainty about a process that had already been judicially approved in accordance with current regulations.
The company insists that it has always acted in accordance with the law and reiterates that it will exhaust all available legal tools to combat the resolution, including the appeal before the Tribunal Constitucional.
Likewise, Vodafone has announced that it is analyzing other possible additional actions to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, in a litigation that has become one of the most significant judicial cases currently open in the Spanish telecommunications market.
The Audiencia de Alicante overturns the takeover of Finetwork
The Provincial Court of Alicante has annulled the operation designed by Vodafone Spain to gain control of Finetwork and has ordered the reversal of the capital increase executed in that context.
The court has considered the restructuring plan of Wewi Mobile ineffective, according to the ruling, even though said plan had already been filed with the Mercantile Registry.
Vodafone Spain expressed its "total disagreement" with the ruling, according to company sources told Europa Press.