A Spanish National Court judge has proposed sending Spain's second largest bank, BBVA, and its former chairman to trial for alleged bribery and disclosure of business secrets as part of an investigation into alleged corporate espionage, the court said Thursday.

BBVA and legal representatives for the former chairman, Francisco Gonzalez, declined to comment.

BBVA was placed under investigation in July 2019 for hiring a private investigation agency allegedly run by former police commissioner Jose Manuel Villarejo.

The case is part of a broader investigation dating back to 2004 into Villarejo, who has denied wrongdoing.

Gonzalez, who was chairman of BBVA at the time the bank hired the agency, had temporarily resigned as honorary chairman in March 2019 to avoid any damage to the bank's reputation. He has also denied wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; additional reporting by Emma Pinedo; edited by Aislinn Laing and Andrei Khalip; edited in Spanish by Mireia Merino.)