Banco Economico, the successor to the former Bank Espirito Santo Angola (BESA), has asked to be an assistant in the case against Ricardo Salgado, Alvaro Sobrinho and three other former directors and wants compensation of more than four billion euros.
The application for appointment as an assistant in the operation, which involved offenses of dishonesty, money laundering and fraud, was sent to the Central Criminal Instruction Court (TCIC) on the 10th of this month, and highlights that the prosecution's accusation reveals a causal link between BESA's losses – which were Its conversion to Banco Económico was created in October 2014, following the collapse of the Espirito Santo Group (GES) – and the conduct of the defendants.
A source linked to the operation told Lusa that the aim of this initiative is to “restore reputation and pursue those responsible” for the collapse of BESA, as Banco Económico considers itself “harmed by the situation”, by inheriting the assets of the extinct bank. BESA was liquidated after 2014 with a large non-performing loan portfolio estimated at $5.7 billion (€5.21 billion).
Then the Angolan state took control of the financial institution, injected capital worth three billion dollars (2.7 billion euros), and declared its bankruptcy.
Banco Económico – which emerged on October 20, 2014 after the National Bank of Angola (BNA) decided to apply a set of extraordinary reorganization measures to BESA – also requested to be an assistant in the BES/GES process, the largest case of which – called Universo Espirito Santo His trial began last Tuesday at the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon.
A source linked to Banco Económico justified the legal steps now taken with the behavior of the management of BES, which acquired the majority (55%) of BESA's capital in 2014.
The application for the formation of Banco Económico as an assistant in the BESA-related process is signed by lawyer Nuno Silva Vieira, who also represents nearly 2,000 affected parties in the BES/GES process. The representative, contacted by Lusa, confirmed that he represented the former BESA here, and rejected any conflict of interest between the defense of the affected parties and Banco Económico, but declined to comment further.
The charge in the BESA case was announced in July 2022 and relates to the granting of financing from BES to BESA, in money market interbank (MMI) lines of credit and bank overdrafts. Due to this alleged criminal activity, on 31 July 2014, BES was exposed to BESA in the amount of approximately €4.8 billion.
In July 2024, the TCIC sentenced Álvaro Sobrinho to stand trial on charges of 18 crimes of gross breach of trust (five of which he co-authored) and five crimes of money laundering, and the former president of BES, Ricardo Salgado, on five crimes of misuse of funds. Trust and one of Qualified Fraud (all co-authored).
Amilcar Moraes Péres has been sentenced for five offenses of abuse of trust and one of fraud (all co-authored), Helder Battaglia will take charge of one count of abuse of trust and one of fraud (both co-authored), and Rui Silveira. One crime of fraud.
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