FORMER BANKER MARIO CONDE ESCORTED OUT OF COURT BY POLICE, 1997-04-07 (photo)

Former Banesto bank chairman Mario Conde looks down as he is escorted out of court on April 7 after judges allowed him to deposit mortgage securities valued at 4 billion pesetas (some $28 million) in lieu of a cash bail of half the amount they had requested before. Conde, who was convicted of fraud and sentenced to six years in prison on March 20 in the first verdict arising from the country's biggest financial scandal, had until this morning to pay the bail in order to remain out of jail while appealing his sentence. Conde had already paid 2 billion pesetas ($14 million) to get out of prison in January 1995, following charges that the former banking magnate committed massive fraud that led to the 1993 collapse of Banco Espa?ol de Credito-Banesto. SPAIN