Lisbon, Oct. 13, 2024 (Lusa) - The collapse of BES in August 2014 shocked Portugal, shook high finance and public accounts, with international repercussions and started a long court battle, which is only now beginning to judge the main case.
The resolution of Banco Espírito Santo (BES) has already cost the public purse around €8 billion, mainly through injections of public capital by the Resolution Fund, but it's likely that the costs won't stop there, given the court cases, BES's debts to creditors and compensation for those affected.
The resolution process, which divided the bank into a ‘bad bank’ and a ‘good bank’ - the then-created Novo Banco - has been a fertile political battleground. Firstly, by criticising the supervisory failures that allowed the situation that led to the collapse of the bank and the economic group it was part of. Several audits have been carried out and parliament has approved three commissions of inquiry.
The BES case even provoked a crisis in 2020 between then prime minister António Costa and his then finance minister Mário Centeno, who acknowledged a failure to communicate with the government leader by not informing him in time about a transfer to the Resolution Fund to capitalise Novo Banco. Unaware of the transfer, António Costa said in parliament that no further transfers would be made until the results of the Novo Banco audit were known.
The last parliamentary inquiry committee criticized the Bank of Portugal's supervision heavily, as did the PS report. The opposition accused the Socialists of wanting to whitewash their role in the process, namely by not recognising responsibility for selling Novo Banco to Lone Star.
On another battlefield, the courts, it is only now, more than 10 years after the collapse of BES and the Espírito Santo Group (GES), that the main case, with dozens of defendants including individuals and companies, is being heard, which is said to have caused losses of more than €11.8 billion.
A summary by the Public Prosecutor's Office of the six criminal cases involving the GES universe points to a total of €18 billion in losses due to crimes associated with the collapse of BES.
So far, the bank's collapse has mainly led to fines totalling millions of euros for former banker Ricardo Salgado and other BES directors, but Salgado has already been convicted in other cases for crimes committed while he led the bank.
In a case taken from Operation Marquês, he was sentenced to six years in prison, a sentence later increased to eight years by the Lisbon Court of Appeal and confirmed by the Supreme Court of Justice. In the EDP case, where he was accused of corrupting former Economy Minister Manuel Pinho in favour of the bank, he was sentenced to six years and three months in prison.
Ricardo Salgado, who was once nicknamed the ‘Owner of It All’, arrives at the start of the trial in the main BES/GES case in poor health, with an Alzheimer's diagnosis that his defence says prevents him from defending himself and should allow him to be absent from the trial sessions.
The court did not agree and will force Ricardo Salgado to attend to defend himself against 62 charges - initially 65, but three have expired - including criminal association, active corruption, document forgery, qualified fraud and money laundering.
Considered one of the biggest cases in the history of Portuguese justice, this case brings together in the main case 242 inquiries, which have been joined, and complaints from more than 300 people, natural and legal, living in Portugal and abroad. According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the collapse of GES caused losses of more than €11.8 billion.
Here's a timeline from the events that led to the collapse of BES and GES to the expected start of the trial:
+++ 2013 +++
At the end of the year, the disagreements between Ricardo Salgado and the chairman of BES Investimento (BESI), José Maria Ricciardi, who at the time was tipped as a possible successor to Salgado at the head of the group, were made public.
On 11 November 2013, the two cousins issued a joint statement publicly making up.
+++ 2014 +++
+++ 15 May +++
Espírito Santo Financial Group (ESFG) and the French group Crédit Agrícole announce the dissolution of the “holding company” BESPAR, through which they controlled BES, taking direct stakes in the bank.
21 May:
The prospectus for BES’s capital increase is published, revealing various pieces of information relating to the Espírito Santo universe, namely irregularities in the accounts of Espírito Santo Internacional (ESI), the reorganisation of the group, a sovereign guarantee from the Angolan state for the majority of BES’s loans to BES Angola (BESA) and judicial investigations into BES’s branch in Florida (USA).
22 May:
Ricardo Salgado gave an interview to Jornal de Negócios. He says the “crisis hit hard and hit the group, which led to less attention paid to the non-financial area”. He does the “mea culpa”, but believes he shouldn’t resign. “We’ve all made mistakes in the group,” he emphasised.
He said that other branches of the family were involved in managing ESI and that Francisco Machado da Cruz, the person responsible for ESI’s accounts (“commissaire aux comptes”), has recognised the mistakes made.
He said he had already provided all the clarifications and had not been accused of anything regarding the alleged commission he had received from a builder in Angola, which had not been declared to the tax authorities.
Regarding BES Angola, he acknowledged that there were problems in managing the African bank and that he was mistaken about Álvaro Sobrinho, the former chairman of BESA.
23 May:
According to Expresso, which had access to the internal audit report, ESI did not record €1.2 billion in debts in its 2012 accounts. It also had negative equity of €2.5 billion, meaning it was technically bankrupt.
27 May:
BES launched a capital increase of up to €1.045 billion, marked by the prospectus confirming financial irregularities in group companies.
+++ June +++
11 June:
BES’s capital increase was fully subscribed, with demand outstripping supply.
17 June:
The new shares began to be traded. The operation aimed to reinforce the bank’s capital ratios, which will be subject to ECB (European Central Bank) exercises.
+++ July +++
10 July :
Fears about GES's financial soundness have grown after it was reported that the subsidiary Banque Privée Espírito Santo in Switzerland has defaulted on repayments to some clients who had investments in ESI debt and that this company is evaluating a request for insolvency.
BES issued a statement saying that the potential losses resulting from exposure to GES did not jeopardise compliance with capital ratios - it held €2.1 billion above the minimum regulatory ratio and an exposure of €1.182 billion to the group.
11 July:
The European Commission said it believed that the Portuguese financial system could manage problems such as the crisis affecting GES in a “timely and effective manner”.
The main European economic newspapers reported in their editions on the problems GES experienced and their impact on the markets the day before. The BdP came out to reassure depositors, followed by the prime minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, who dismissed the need for state intervention.
14 July:
The co-option of Vítor Bento, chairman of SIBS, as BES’s executive chairman was announced to the market.
15 July:
One day after taking office, Vítor Bento stated that the bank’s priority was to “regain the trust of the markets” and end speculation.
17 July:
Finance Minister Maria Luís Albuquerque says in parliament that the nationalisation of BES has been completely ruled out and that no plan was underway to recapitalise the bank with public capital.
18 July:
The BdP governor said in parliament that the irregularities in the accounts of GES companies were only discovered when the regulator left its restricted area of supervision and revealed that the main shareholders chose the new BES managers without the supervisor's intervention.
23 July:
According to Público, the Public Prosecutor’s Office raided the GES headquarters, where the top board on which the five branches of the family are represented, and visited companies linked to the family and companies with business relations with the Group. On the other side of the Atlantic, US financial supervisors returned to BES Miami.
The GES holdings are at issue, but spokespeople for Rioforte and ESI say that the Public Prosecutor's Office has not visited them.
According to the newspaper, the Public Prosecutor’s Office investigated 12 transfers totalling €27.3 million made between July 2009 and July 2011. The transfers are alleged to have gone from BESA to the accounts of companies based in Panama, the beneficiaries of which are Ricardo Salgado and Amílcar Morais Pires.
24 July:
Ricardo Salgado was arrested at his home in Cascais and arraigned and heard by the Central Criminal Investigation Court as part of the “Monte Branco” operation.
The suspicions focus mainly on the €14 million transfer made by the builder José Guilherme to Salgado's offshore companies, which he justified as a gift.
28 July:
According to Expresso Diário, BES’s losses at the end of the first half of the year could reach three billion euros due to the discovery of more debt owed by BES clients to GES than was previously thought.
Following this news, at around 10.30 p.m., the Bank of Portugal issued a statement insisting that the “solvency of BES and the security of the funds entrusted to the bank are assured”. It reminded everyone that there were solutions to deal with the losses that may be reported. According to the regulator, private individuals are interested in increasing capital if capital is insufficient. In addition, it added, “at the limit, if necessary, the public recapitalisation line is available”.
30 July:
In the middle of the night, BES reported a historic loss of €3.577 billion between January and June, compared to a loss of €237.4 million in the first half of 2013.
The bank justified the result by “factors of an exceptional nature,” which led to impairment and contingency costs totalling €4,253 billion. To deal with any losses it might incur with GES companies, BES set aside provisions for impairments totalling €1.206 billion.
The accounts show that the bank closed the first half of the year with a capital ratio of 5%, below the minimum set by the BdP, and that the Board of Directors found liabilities that were not included in the bank’s accounting records on 30 June, which is why it made an additional provision of €856 million. Expresso reported that this was a BES guarantee on €800 million invested by Venezuela’s state oil company in GES commercial paper.
It is also known that BES is in danger of losing control of BESA, where it made a loss of €198 million in the first half of the year, as the Angolan banking supervisor forced the entity to “substantially strengthen” its capital and the Portuguese bank may not be able to keep up with the operation, and that BES has recognised an impairment of €106.1 million on its stake in PT in its half-year results.
BES’s new executive chairman, Vítor Bento, announced that the bank would immediately increase capital.
31 July:
Right at 00:00, the BdP issued a statement saying that facts uncovered at BES point to the “practice of seriously damaging management acts” and acknowledged administrative offences and even criminal consequences for the former management team led by Ricardo Salgado.
The regulator suspended “with immediate effect” the BES directors responsible for auditing, compliance, and risk management due to “indications of acts detrimental to the interests of BES.” Joaquim Goes, responsible for the risk area, António Souto, from the compliance department, and Rui Silveira, from the audit and inspection department, were dismissed.
The supervisor inhibited the voting rights inherent in ESFG’s stake in BES, i.e. the Espírito Santo family no longer has power over the bank.
The CMVM suspended trading in BES shares on the Lisbon stock market until 10:00.
Shortly after the suspension ended (10:19), BES shares fell 49.28% on the stock exchange to €0.18.
++ August +++
1 August:
The CMVM suspended trading in BES shares until relevant information was released after the bank recorded a new all-time low of € 0.105, a fall of almost 50%.
3 August:
The BdP takes control of BES and announces the separation of the institution into two.
BES’s toxic assets and liabilities, as well as the shareholders, are concentrated in the so-called bad bank, a vehicle that retains the BES name, while the assets and liabilities considered to be unproblematic, are concentrated in the good bank, the transition bank, called Novo Banco.
Vítor Bento reveals that he will lead Novo Banco and that the “uncertainties that threatened the institution” have been removed.
4 August:
The prime minister at the time, Pedro Passos Coelho, considered that the solution announced by the BdP to resolve the problems at BES was the one that “best defends taxpayers”, stressing that it had been received “favourably” by the market.
The BdP appointed Luís Máximo dos Santos as chairman of the bad bank.
Former BES chairman Ricardo Salgado said he would comment on the state’s intervention in the bank after the forensic audit and when “time and context allow for an objective and serene analysis”.
The CMVM started investigating the trading of BES securities up until the moment the shares were suspended to find out whether insider information was used in the securities transaction.
The Finance Minister of the PSD/CDS government, Maria Luís Albuquerque, said that “there must be severe punishments” in the process involving financial irregularities at BES and which led to the demise of the financial institution as it existed.
The opening of the Novo Banco branches, which resulted from the division of Banco Espírito Santo into two and represents the part where the good assets remained, took place calmly and normally.
5 August:
The Portuguese banks propose financing the Resolution Fund to the tune of €635 million in order to capitalise Novo Banco, which will reduce the amount of money coming from the “troika” to €3.9 billion.
7 August:
The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, said that the Portuguese authorities had acted effectively in the BES case.
The Finance Minister said in parliament that if Novo Banco was sold for less than the state’s loan to the Resolution Fund, it would be up to the banks to pay that amount. The minister also confirmed that the banks’ proposal had been accepted and that the “troika” money going into the Resolution Fund to capitalise Novo Banco would be reduced to €3.9 billion.
The governor of the BdP, Carlos Costa, said in parliament that the national financial system was “on a knife edge” over the weekend when the solution to BES was decided.
12 August
The €3.3 billion loan that BES had granted to BES Angola has been transferred to Novo Banco, said the Bank of Portugal, adding that the loan has been fully provisioned.
28 August:
The State advanced the €635 million the banks had committed to lend to the Resolution Fund so that Novo Banco could be capitalised.
The advance made by the State through the Treasury will be repaid by the banks once an agreement has been reached between the banks and the bank Resolution Fund, through which the banks will grant a loan, no longer of €635 million, but of €700 million to the Fund managed by the BdP.
+++ September +++
13 September:
Vítor Bento left Novo Banco's leadership shortly after accepting the leadership of BES, a position he took on out of “patriotic duty.”
14 September:
The Bank of Portugal confirms that Eduardo Stock da Cunha has been chosen to succeed Vítor Bento as head of Novo Banco after the latter asked to leave the post.
22 September:
Novo Banco begins replacing the façades of the more than 600 former BES branches in the country
+++ October +++
17 October:
The Portuguese state pledged not to inject any more money into Novo Banco, which received €4.9 billion from the Resolution Fund, in the letter that the Finance Minister sent to Brussels regarding the BES bailout, the European Commission revealed.
+++ December +++
8 December:
Novo Banco reported selling BES Investimento (BESI) to Haitong, a Chinese company specialising in financial services, for €379 million.
+++ 2015 +++
+++ January +++
15 January:
Novo Banco completes the sale of Tranquilidade to Apollo.
+++ February +++
26 February:
Stock da Cunha anticipates that Novo Banco should return to profit in 2016.
+++ March +++
9 March:
Novo Banco recorded a net loss of €467.9 million from its creation in August 2014, following the resolution of BES, until the end of the previous year.
+++ April +++
30 April:
The deadline for submitting binding proposals for Novo Banco ends. The Bank of Portugal received three binding proposals to purchase Novo Banco.
+++ August +++
2 August:
Eurostat said it was likely that the injection of €4.9 billion into Novo Banco will jeopardise the deficit.
+++ September +++
1 September:
Negotiations for the sale of Novo Banco end without agreement.
15 September:
The Bank of Portugal stops the sale of Novo Banco and prepares a new procedure.
23 September:
Novo Banco causes the 2014 deficit to rise to 7.2% of GDP, according to the national statistics institute INE.
+++ October +++
29 October:
Sérgio Monteiro joins the Resolution Fund and will lead the sale of Novo Banco.
+++ November +++
14 November:
Novo Banco “fails” the ECB’s stress tests in the most adverse scenario.
Novo Banco has capital needs of €1.398 million - ECB.
The Bank of Portugal will “immediately” start a new process to sell Novo Banco.
Novo Banco to sell insurance company to fulfil ECB requirements.
+++ December +++
2 December:
Centeno says “unlimited protection” for taxpayers in the sale of Novo Banco.
+++ 2016 +++
+++ February +++
24 February:
Novo Banco made a loss of €980.6 million in 2015.
+++ June +++
30 June:
The Bank of Portugal said it had received four takeover bids for Novo Banco.
+++ August +++
1 August:
António Ramalho takes over as chairman of Novo Banco’s board of directors.
3 August:
Two years after the bailout, Novo Banco had accumulated losses of €1.8 billion.
+++ November +++
4 November:
The deadline for submitting final bids to buy Novo Banco ends.
The Bank of Portugal has received five final purchase proposals.
+++ 2017 +++
+++ January +++
5 January:
BdP invites Lone Star to “deepen negotiations” to acquire Novo Banco.
+++ February +++
3 February:
PS, PSD, and CDS-PP reject the nationalisation of Novo Banco, which was proposed by the Left Bloc (BE) and Communist Party (PCP).
20 February:
The BdP chooses Lone Star to negotiate the sale of Novo Banco “on an exclusive basis”.
Lone Star said it remains committed to buying the institution and would keep António Ramalho as chairman.
Centeno acknowledges that the institution will not be sold in its entirety.
+++ March +++
8 March:
Sérgio Monteiro stops leading the sale of Novo Banco and becomes a consultant.
27 March:
Brussels acknowledges that the state will keep part of Novo Banco’s capital if it makes other commitments.
31 March:
The Governor of the Bank of Portugal confirms the sale of Novo Banco to the US company Lone Star.
Lone Star will inject €1 billion into Novo Banco to control 75% of the capital.
Sale with no impact on public accounts or burden on taxpayers - Costa.
The prime minister said the nationalisation of Novo Banco would involve up to €4.7 billion of taxpayers' money.
Costa argues that the solution benefited the national economy and the European Union.
Brussels welcomed the agreement to sell Novo Banco and asked for a restructuring plan.
+++ April +++
1 April:
The president of Portugal considered Novo Banco sale solution “important” among the “less bad” ones.
3 April:
Ricardo Salgado said that Novo Banco “was handed over for free”.
4 April:
Lone Star negotiates problem assets that could cost the Resolution Fund €3.89 billion.
5 April:
Brussels is satisfied with the end of the “long saga” and awaits sale details.
“The solution is balanced and protects taxpayers,” according to Mário Centeno.
12 April:
The renegotiation of the loan to the Resolution Fund for Novo Banco says it will be repaid.
Novo Banco began the process of selling the insurance company GNB Vida.
+++ May +++
1 May:
Novo Banco signs a contract to sell operations in Venezuela.
16 May:
“It’s incomprehensible that the state hasn’t sold 100%” of Novo Banco, says Maria Luís Albuquerque.
+++ July +++
10 July:
Brussels approves the sale within the framework of mergers and still evaluates state aid.
+++ October +++
3 October:
The government approved an agreement saying that the Resolution Fund would be financed.
The insurance regulator gives the green light to the purchase by Lone Star.
11 October:
Brussels approved the sale of Novo Banco to Lone Star.
16 October:
Novo Banco’s general meeting approves a capital increase of €750 million, which will be guaranteed by the US fund Lone Star.
18 October:
The contract for Novo Banco's sale to Lone Star was signed in Lisbon.
Novo Banco ceases to be a bridge bank.
The Resolution Fund retains a 25% stake in Novo Banco.
Lone Star will inject €750 million into Novo Banco immediately, and the remaining €250 million will be invested in 2017.
Lone Star says it will “work to ensure that Novo Banco gets stronger”.
The general meeting approved the amendment to the financial institution’s articles of association and appointed the governing bodies for the next four years.
Byron Haynes heads the General and Supervisory Board, while António Ramalho will remain chairman of the government's Board of Directors.
+++ November +++
27 November:
Novo Banco set aside provisions totalling €3.7 billion to offset losses mainly on loans.
+++ December +++
21 December:
Novo Banco raises capital to €5.9 billion.
+++ 2018 +++
+++ January +++
10 January:
The government acknowledged a state loan to the Resolution Fund to capitalise Novo Banco.
The agreement with the Resolution Fund was necessary to ensure financial stability - Centeno.
+++ February +++
24 February:
The government said that any capital injection into Novo Banco would not jeopardise the debt.
+++ March +++
1 March:
Novo Banco sold the assets and liabilities of its branch in Venezuela and left the country.
28 March:
Novo Banco posted record losses of €1.395 billion in 2017.
The State must lend up to €450 million to the Resolution Fund to capitalise Novo Banco.
+++ April +++
3 April:
The Secretary of State said there was “loss sharing” at Novo Banco with Lone star.
13 April:
Centeno says there would be a €450 million state loan to the Resolution Fund.
18 April:
Capitalisation by the Resolution Fund had a neutral impact - BdP.
+++ May +++
24 May:
The Resolution Fund injected €791.7 million with the State lending €430 million.
The government expects a smaller state loan in 2019.
30 May:
Centeno said state commitments avoid liquidation even in the worst case scenario.
Novo Banco’s tax credits cost the state €153 million in 2017.
+++ September +++
24 September:
Mark Bourke was appointed administrator for Novo Banco’s financial area.
+++ October +++
16 October:
2019 state budget: The government set aside €850 million for the Resolution Fund to recapitalise Novo Banco.
25 October:
Novo Banco did not rule out “in any way” further capital injection.
+++ December +++
3 December:
The €6.5 billion debt to the ECB forced Novo Banco to go to the market – Moody’s.
+++ 2019 +++
+++ January +++
17January:
Ramalho said Novo Banco would need more public capital, but didn’t say how much.
+++ February +++
5 February:
Novo Banco suspended the transfer of $1.2 billion from the Venezuelan state.
22 February:
Taxpayers will realise that they weren’t charged any money from the Resolution Fund - Carlos Costa.
+++ March +++
1 March:
Novo Banco asked for €1.149 billion from the Resolution Fund.
Novo Banco made a loss of €1.412 billion in 2018.
The State returned €220 million to Novo Banco in deferred tax assets.
The Resolution Fund wanted Novo Banco’s accounts certified and has recourse to the State’s €850 million.
The Ministry of Finance requested an audit of Novo Banco’s loans.
3 March:
Marcelo agreed with the government on the need to audit Novo Banco’s accounts.
4 March:
Capital injection into Novo Banco creates pressure on the 2019 deficit.
5 March:
Finance says capital injection into Novo Banco should not jeopardise the 2019 deficit.
6 March:
Costa said BES split in 2014 was between “bad bank” and “terrible bank”.
Centeno says that “not one euro” of public money would be spent on Novo Banco.
7 March:
The PS wanted an audit of the BES resolution before the commission of inquiry into Novo Banco.
Costa insisted that a parliamentary inquiry could satisfy the PR’s “curiosity” as well as his own.
Centeno said that the resolution created losses, not the sale.
Centeno said that the bank, “due to its systemic effect, will not be liquidated”.
The government criticised the Bank of Portugal’s 2015 decision to transfer bonds.
13 March:
The Monitoring Committee said the capital request would amount to €3 billion.
According to the Portuguese Public Finance Council (CFP), additional needs would raise the deficit to 0.7% of GDP in 2019.
CFP concerned about impact on public accounts.
14 March:
Taxpayers’ money is involved and audit must cover post-resolution - Marcelo.
Novo Banco rejects the idea that it is selling property at “inappropriate” prices.
Rui Rio said taxpayers would pay millions and called for a Novo Banco audit.
17 March:
Impairments are appropriate, and contrary opinions are incorrect - Novo Banco management.
19 March:
The PSD said that the audit should include current management.
António Ramalho insisted that “all audits are welcome”.
20 March:
“I would be very surprised if we reached the ceiling” of €3.89 billion - Resolution Fund.
21 March:
The chairman of Novo Banco said that the resolution “was not fully prepared”.
The PSD called for an independent audit of the post-BES period.
29 March:
The deficit would be zero in 2018 without extraordinary measures, including Novo Banco - UTAO.
+++ April +++
15 April:
The government planned to inject €2.150 billion into Novo Banco by 2021.
Novo Banco “doesn’t react” to the government’s forecast, but thinks it’s “happy” with a phased capitalisation.
+++ May +++
9 May:
Novo Banco has received a capital injection - Centeno.
10 May:
The State lent €850 million to the Resolution Fund to capitalise Novo Banco.
+++ July +++
17 July:
Novo Banco had losses of over €3.5 billion in June 2018 caused by 33 debtors.
19 JUly:
MPs approved a resolution to audit Novo Banco.
+++ August +++
2 August:
Novo Banco planned to request €541 million from the Resolution Fund for the first half of the year.
3 August:
BES was resolved five years ago, and the cost to the state has already exceeded €5 billion.
+++ September +++
3 September:
Novo Banco: Large debtors caused losses of €4.15 billion at the end of 2018.
5 September:
Novo Banco estimated that the state could be left with 10% of its capital due to deferred taxes.
17 September:
2019 state budget: Novo Banco increased deficit to 0.8% of GDP in 1st half - UTAO.
+++ October +++
14 October:
Novo Banco finalised sale of insurance company GNB Vida for €168 million.
+++ November +++
13 November:
Finances waiting for Deloitte to know the Novo Banco audit's delivery date.
Novo Banco said it was waiting to know the scope of Deloitte”s audit.
22 November:
Novo Banco’s chairman said the restructuring would cost less money if done in less time.
26 November:
President of Portugal acknowledged new capital injection into Novo Banco this year.
+++ December +++
17 December:
2020 state budget: Government foresees €600 million for Novo Banco’s recapitalisation.
+++ 2020 +++
+++ February +++
4 February:
Injections into the Resolution Fund above €850 million must be authorised by parliament.
26 February:
The chairman of the Resolution Fund said that Novo Banco would ask for a further €1.037 billion.
27 February:
The government would inject the maximum ceiling of €850 million into Novo Banco - PM.
28 February:
Novo Banco cut losses to €1.059 billion in 2019.
António Ramalho recalled that Novo Banco’s recapitalisation had already cost €4.5 billion.
The chairman of Novo Banco said that 2020 was the year to “clean up” the legacy of BES.
+++ March +++
2 March:
President said that the State could only inject the amount foreseen in the Budget into Novo Banco.
+++ April +++
22 April:
The prime minister said that the audit of Novo Banco would be finalised in July.
+++ May +++
7 May:
Costa said that without the results of the Novo Banco audit, there would be no new injections.
8 May:
Catarina Martins considered a new injection into Novo Banco without the results of the audit to be shocking.
PAN said that a new injection into Novo Banco was an “irresponsible operation”.
Costa said he was not informed of the loan repayment to Novo Banco.
The PCP criticises the government for continuing to “bury millions” in Novo Banco.
Rio expresses his “clear disapproval” of the government for giving Novo Banco more money without an audit.
Novo Banco has received €2.978 billion from the Bank Resolution Fund.
New injection into Novo Banco followed what was predefined in the contract - Government.
12 May:
Novo Banco: Centeno acknowledged miscommunication with Costa, but not financial failure.
13 May:
The transfer of Novo Banco was not done in absentia by the prime minister - Centeno.
The Finance Minister announced an audit of Novo Banco after a loan of €850 million.
Costa was right to postpone the transfer to Novo Banco until after the audit - President.
PSD, BE, and CDS-PP maintained doubts about the failure to inform Costa of the injection into Novo Banco.
The leader of the PSD called for the resignation of Finance Minister Mário Centeno.
The PS rejects Rio’s “abusive statements” and “conspiracy theory” about Centeno.
The prime minister reaffirms his personal and political confidence in the finance minister.
14 May:
President reiterated his position on Novo Banco and distanced himself from internal government issues.
The Resolution Fund’s costs with Novo Banco have totalled €7.876 billion.
Centeno warned that he would not allow Novo Banco to be jeopardised by “pointless” parliamentary debate.
15 May:
Costa claimed that the cost of selling Novo Banco reflected the quality of the product.
20 May:
The Resolution Fund can recover money if there weren management failures at Novo Banco - PM.
Costa said that €3.9 billion is the ceiling of state money for Novo Banco.
21 May:
Novo Banco regreted being used “in political-media manoeuvres”.
The PSD asked for written clarifications from Novo Banco’s management.
The PS criticised Novo Banco’s “nervous reaction” and asked for full availability to clarify.
The CDS shied away from criticising Novo Banco because the “soap opera” was created by the government.
22 May:
The PCP proposed the immediate nationalisation of Novo Banco.
The BE wanted the contract for the sale of Novo Banco to Lone Star to be public.
25 May:
The BE believed the PM’s word on Novo Banco but considered there to be “enormous opacity.”
26 May:
MPs called on BdP governor to clarify bonuses paid to directors.
MPs approved a request for the sale contract to be handed over to Parliament.
The PSD wanted details of credit portfolios and property assets in 16 questions.
+++ June +++
14 June:
Novo Banco acknowledged needing more capital this year.
15 June:
Marcelo was “astonished” by the news that Novo Banco needed more capital.
16 June:
State could intervene in Novo Banco “as a shareholder” - Finance Minister.
Novo Banco: Contract for the sale to Lone Star reached parliament.
Agreement with Brussels for the sale of Novo Banco allowed the State to spend more than €3.9 billion.
Contract does not provide for capital injections due to the pandemic - BdP.
17 June:
Novo Banco: Government also stunned by Ramalho”s statements - João Leão.
Minister said seven times that there would be no new injection into Novo Banco in 2020.
BE asked for access to missing documents from the sale contract to Lone Star.
18 June:
The Bank of Portugal chose Deloitte for a new audit of Novo Banco.
26 June:
The government mandated Deloitte to carry out a new audit.
+++ July +++
2 July:
MPs received missing documents from the sale contract to Lone Star.
Parliament asked the government for documents on injections in an adverse scenario.
9 July:
Banks asked for €1.131 billion in tax credits, and the tax authorities paid out €254 million, mainly to Novo Banco.
14 July:
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) indicts 18 people and seven companies for various economic and financial offences, some for criminal association, in the BES/Universo Espírito Santo case, in which Ricardo Salgado was the central figure.
The former president of Banco Espírito Santo (BES) was accused of 65 offences, including criminal association, active corruption in the private sector, qualified fraud, money laundering and tax fraud, in the BES/GES case.
15 July:
Novo Banco audit to be finalised this month - Finance Minister.
24 July:
The government refused a request for an extension for the audit - Costa.
State of the Nation: Rio suggested a public prosecutor’s investigation into the sale of Novo Banco.
27 July:
MP was analysing letter in which António Costa asked for protection of the state’s interests in Novo Banco.
28 July:
The PCP considered the sale of Novo Banco property to be an “economic crime against the state”.
The PS wanted to hear Novo Banco’s chairman when parliament reopens.
The BE criticised the “fraud” that let Lone Star take money from the state for Novo Banco.
The CDS-PP demanded explanations and “truth” about new suspicions at Novo Banco.
Novo Banco said it sent detailed information on the sale of the property to the Attorney General’s Office.
Rio considered it “probable” that a parliamentary inquiry into Novo Banco is necessary.
Liberal initiative wants explanations from Novo Banco’s president on property.
Proposed parliamentary inquiry into Novo Banco.
Marcelo wanted “full clarification” and “by all means” on Novo Banco.
30 July:
Finances didn’t show they had all the information on the sale of Novo Banco to Lone Star - TdC.
The government didn’t want the bank sold until the audit was finalised.
31 July:
Novo Banco worsened losses by 39% to €555 million in the 1st half of the year.
Novo Banco estimates at €176 million the amount to be requested from the Resolution Fund to cover losses of €555 million.
+++ September +++
1 September:
Audit reveals losses of €4.042 billion at Novo Banco and government sends report to attoeney general’s office.
2 September:
95% of losses pointed out in the audit date back to BES - Novo Banco president.
The Left Bloc launched a commission of inquiry to find out who was responsible.
It would take 20 years to sell properties one by one - chairman.
President compares team to firefighters called in to fight arson.
The BE criticises Centeno’s refusal to disclose the BdP’s internal audit on the BES resolution.
Suspension of asset sales ended with delivery of audit - president.
Chega called for a full audit and a parliamentary inquiry.
The PS considered proposing a parliamentary inquiry commission with a “broad” object.
3 September:
BE called for a commission of inquiry to ascertain the causes of losses since resolution.
The ECB received the external audit report and will assess it.
The audit confirmed the importance of capital injections - BdP.
Exposure to large debtors was €3.118 billion in 2019.
4 September:
BE called for nullity of audit “mortally wounded” by Deloitte’s conflict of interest.
Deloitte said it complied with the law and informed “the interested parties”.
8 September:
An audit published on the parliament website purged confidential information.
Almost 50% of credit losses after the sale to Lone Star - Deloitte.
Audit pointed to a flaw in the justification for selling assets at a discount.
The sales of BESI and Vénétie were made without analysing conflicts of interest - audit.
The Attorney General considered that there was no evidence to accuse Rio of the sale of assets.
9 September:
Novo Banco said it knew the beneficiaries of the funds that bought assets.
BCP decided “not to continue” with the legal proceedings concerning Novo Banco.
15 September:
All transactions at a loss to the Resolution Fund have been authorised - Ramalho.
Ramalho said that BES’s property portfolio was “bad, old and illegal”.
Ramalho said he would resign if there were sales to entities related to Lone Star.
The Resolution Fund was auditing Luís Filipe Vieira’s credits - Ramalho.
September 16:
The PS put forward a proposal to set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry.
Audit of Luís Filipe Vieira’s debts analyses recovery prospects – Resolution Fund.
September 23:
MPs reject immediate and full disclosure of audit.
September 25:
BE parliamentary inquiry approved unanimously.
+++ October +++
1 October:
Government sought answers to avoid state loan to Resolution Fund - Duarte Cordeiro.
2 October:
The government agreed not to make any public loans in 2021.
The BE proposed direct capitalisation by the banks without the intervention of the Resolution Fund.
9 October:
The PSD proposed an audit of Novo Banco by the Court of Auditors.
13 October:
Capital injection into Novo Banco would have a maximum budgetary impact of €200 million in 2021 - João Leão.
The government planned to spend €470 million from the Resolution Fund.
15 October:
Parliament unanimously approved the Court of Auditors’ audit.
22 October:
António Ramalho reappointed for a new term until 2024.
26 October:
Novo Banco and TAP were “non-negligible risks” to the deficit - CFP.
+++ November +++
13 November:
Novo Banco worsened its losses to €853.1 million up to September.
25 November:
Parliament cancelled the transfer of €476 million from the Resolution Fund to Novo Banco.
26 November:
The cancellation of the transfer from the Resolution Fund to Novo Banco has been confirmed. João Leão is “very concerned” about the cancellation and accuses PSD of forcing the State to default on Novo Banco.
Rio said that the state “must fulfil” the contract as long as Novo Banco also fulfils it.
Costa told Lagarde “scrupulous fulfilment” of commitments to Novo Banco.
27 November:
The transfer to Novo Banco was cancelled because of a “mishap”—António Ramalho. Novo Banco “trusts” that the Resolution Fund will continue to transfer funds.
+++ December +++
11 December:
Parliament didn’t want more money for the Resolution Fund without a finalised audit.
15 December:
Ferro said expectations about the new inquiry commission “are high”.
22 December:
“It would be dramatic” to jeopardise contracts entered into by the state - Centeno.
30 December:
Novo Banco created a special team to respond to the inquiry commission.
+++ 2021 +++
+++ January +++
28 January:
If contracts are honoured, Novo Banco will not be a problem for the financial system - Centeno.
+++ March +++
10 March:
Parliamentary commission of inquiry into Novo Banco’s losses began
The former chairman of the Audit Board of the Bank of Portugal (BdP), João Costa Pinto, the first to be heard by the committee of inquiry, said in parliament that there should have been political intervention in BES during the “troika” programme.
Costa Pinto said that “there are losses that could have been avoided” at Novo Banco
Parliament asks the Supreme Court of Justice to lift the secrecy on Costa Pinto’s report assessing the BdP’s actions before the BES resolution
12 March:
Supervisory Director of the Bank of Portugal (BdP), Luís Costa Ferreira, said in parliament that the supervisor’s action concerning BES was “energetic and assertive”.
15 March:
Victims of BES’s foreign branches claim a credit recovery fund
18 March:
The former financial director of Novo Banco Moreira Rato confirmed that Pedro Siza Vieira participated in the sale of Tranquilidade
BdP was warned that capital might not be enough - Moreira Rato
23 March:
Former BES chairman Vítor Bento said it never “crossed his mind” that the BdP could have guaranteed a possible public capitalisation line without articulating it with the government.
Vítor Bento said in parliament that he does not doubt that the sale of the insurance company Tranquilidade to Apollo was “the best decision” and that the solution found for the resolution of BES was the result of the “ghost” of BPN and “an illusion” about its value.
24 March:
Former BES and Novo Banco director José Honório said in parliament that former BdP governor Carlos Costa assured him that a public capitalisation of the bank would occur if there were problems.
Honório suggested that the bank didn’t record all its losses until it had capital in 2017.
26 March:
Novo Banco recorded losses of €1.329 billion in 2020, an increase on the €1.058 recorded in 2019.
Novo Banco announced that it would request a further €598.3 million from the Resolution Fund.
The Resolution Fund said today that there were “matters under analysis” worth more than €160 million that may not be covered by Novo Banco’s capitalisation mechanism.
2021 “is the year of growth and profitability” - António Ramalho
Government was “convinced” that the final amount transferred from the Resolution Fund would be “lower than forecast” in 2021 state budget
27 March:
António Costa said that the request for capital “manifestly exceeds” what is owed.
30 March:
The former director of supervision at the Bank of Portugal (BdP) Vasco Pereira, in office between 2011 and 2013, said today that he was convinced that there was relevant information about BES to which the supervisor could not access.
+++ April +++
1 April:
Former Finance Minister Maria Luís Albuquerque said in parliament that the possibility of publicly recapitalising BES using the “troika” line was not discussed between the government and the Bank of Portugal.
Maria Luís Albuquerque said that she never set a ceiling for the capitalisation of what would become Novo Banco, saying that the Bank of Portugal set the €4.9 billion.
Former Finance Minister Maria Luís Albuquerque said that those who deceived people at BES “were the shareholders”, and not the politicians who called for tranquillity based on the information they had at the time.
BdP received a Deloitte audit of Novo Banco, carried out after the 2020 capital injection, relating to the 2019 accounts.
Novo Banco claimed that the audit did not detect any “relevant non-conformities”.
The government delivered the Deloitte audit to parliament and the Court of Auditors.
6 April:
The prime minister’s former assistant secretary of state, Carlos Moedas, said in parliament that he never discussed GES and BES problems with the “troika” and that they were dealt with by other members of the government.
Carlos Moedas said that in the phone call made by Ricardo Salgado he was only “polite and polite” and didn’t “say yes or no”, saying he did nothing of what was asked.
9 April:
Novo Banco’s losses in 2019, which gave rise to the request for €1.037 billion from the Resolution Fund, were due to impairments and sales of non-performing loans, according to Deloitte’s audit.
Deloitte said that€638 million not requested from the Resolution Fund may be requested later.
The investigative decision in Operation Marquês charged Ricardo Salgado, the former chairman of the Espírito Santo Group (GES) and BES, with three offences of abuse of trust.
13 April:
The Bank of Portugal’s (BdP) advisor for the sale of Novo Banco, Sérgio Monteiro, said in parliament that the state was not obliged to capitalise the institution if the other options failed and that this was only one possibility.
16 April:
The government released forecasts that the Resolution Fund would inject €430 million into Novo Banco this year.
22 April:
Former Portuguese President Cavaco Silva responded to the commission of inquiry into Novo Banco using transcripts from his book “Thursday and Other Days.” He recalled that the head of state does not “exercise any function” in the financial system and reiterated that he never asked for money for election campaigns.
Cavaco Silva said that former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos did not reply to a letter from him about the situation of BES Angola (BESA) and Angola’s sovereign guarantee of BES’s loans to BESA.
Cavaco Silva again regretted the “abusive interpretations” with “little honest intent” about his statements on BES in 2014, “going so far as to say” that he had “encouraged investments in financial instruments of BES or its non-financial group”.
24 April:
Novo Banco would be considered “a success story” with positive results as early as 2021 - António Ramalho
27 April:
The amount requested by Novo Banco is neither adequate nor justified - João Leão
Former President of the European Commission Durão Barroso said that he hadn’t met with former prime minister Passos Coelho about BES/GES, considering that he didn’t have to take “steps”.
30 April:
Former prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho said that he received the information about the failed sale of Novo Banco in 2015 “with relative surprise”, as he had noted that former Bank of Portugal governor Carlos Costa was “quite optimistic”.
Pedro Passos Coelho considered that BES would have survived if the group’s managers had respected the preventive measures decreed by the supervision.
+++ May +++
3 May:
The extra capitalisation of Novo Banco agreed with Brussels could be up to €1.6 billion
The Bank of Portugal (BdP) and the Resolution Fund said the TdC audit shows no impediments to injecting public money.
New capital injection not yet fully defined - BdP
5 May:
Novo Banco awarded €1.86 million bonus to government directors
Management bonuses will be deducted from the capital call - Mário Centeno
The Finance Ministry considers management bonuses inappropriate
The president of Portugal said that “the Portuguese are attentive” to the situation of the alleged bonuses to the directors of Novo Banco and said he hoped there would be “common sense” in the decisions of institutions that receive state support.
7 May:
BES victims demanded solution and threaten a hunger strike
10 May:
The president of Promovalor and then president of Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Luís Filipe Vieira, said in parliament that “it’s comfortable” but false to “stick” him with the Novo Banco losses blamed on taxpayers, stating that he never had any capital or interest forgiven.
Promovalor’s debt to Novo Banco in 2017 was €227 million - Luís Filipe Vieira
12 May:
The prime minister refused the Left Bloc coordinator’s request for a compromise so that the Resolution Fund would not inject money into Novo Banco without parliamentary authorisation, with António Costa replying that “contracts are for compliance.”
17 May:
The former governor of the Bank of Portugal (BdP), Carlos Costa, said that he did not say that the public capitalisation of BES would go ahead, differing from the words of former bank directors in the commission of inquiry into Novo Banco. He also said that “there was no complacency” in the removal of the Espírito Santo family from BES, justifying the decision not to have done so immediately.
18 May:
BdP governor Mário Centeno is heard in parliament and said that the Novo Banco process was “painful socially, politically, financially”, “a lesson” for everyone involved, that “it wasn’t a good bank, we had to make it a good bank”.
Centeno considered new capital injections into Novo Banco unlikely after 2021.
19 May:
Novo Banco’s executive chairman said the bank may ask for a new capitalisation from the Resolution Fund for this year’s accounts of more than €100 million. He also said that managers don't award themselves bonuses.
21 May:
Report and accounts reveal that BES - In Liquidation more than doubled losses to €547 million in 2020.
27 May:
The government revealed that Novo Banco should receive another €429 million in 2021.
31 May:
Novo Banco goes from losses to profits of €70.7 million in the 1st quarter
+++ June +++
1 June:
Formalisation of the bank’s loan to the Resolution Fund (FdR) to finance Novo Banco for a total of €475 million , which can be used until 2022.
António Ramalho was appointed for a new term as Novo Banco”s executive chairman.
2 June:
Novo Banco said it expected profits of €154 million this year.
4 June:
Supreme Court rejected request to make Costa Pinto report public.
Resolution Fund paid €317 million to Novo Banco.
11 June:
Former governor Vítor Constâncio said in parliament that until he left the Bank of Portugal (BdP), his actions in relation to BES were “appropriate to the situation” at the time, stating that a posteriori we are all clairvoyant”.
16 June:
Parliament heard Caixa Geral de Depósitos CEO Paulo Macedo, concluding the hearings in the inquiry committee.
+++ July +++
6 July:
Ricardo Salgado to stand trial for abuse of trust in the case extracted from Operation Marquês.
11 July:
It is revealed that the Public Prosecutor’s Office calculated that the activity of Imosteps, Luís Filipe Vieira’s company, caused losses of €45.6 million to Novo Banco between 2017 and 2019, later compensated by the Resolution Fund.
14 July:
The Competition Court confirms fines of €290,000 and €100,000 imposed in September 2020 on Ricardo Salgado and Morais Pires for violating anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing rules.
The former head of legal affairs and auditing at BES, Rui Silveira, blamed the Bank of Portugal in the Competition Court for revoking the Angolan state’s sovereign guarantee that covered BES Angola’s credit portfolio.
20 July:
The report of the commission of inquiry into Novo Banco is presented.
The rapporteur said that supervision “failed across the board” until the resolution of BES and pointed to a “complete disaster” in the BdP”s relationship with BESA. It also criticised the attitude of António Ramalho’s management at Novo Banco.
The report said that the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Directorate-General for Competition (DGComp) “crucially” conditioned the resolution of BES and the creation of Novo Banco, with more demands on the sale.
The opposition criticised the PS report.
Amílcar Morais Pires, former financial director of BES, denied in the Competition Court that he carried out any act of harmful management at the bank, as the supervisor accused him of.
26 July:
The inquiry commission approved amendments to the report that said the BES resolution was “political fraud” and held the PS government responsible for the sale of Novo Banco to Lone Star.
27 July:
Commission approved new amendments to the report, which concluded that large debtors were treated favourably after the BES resolution and criticised management bonuses at Novo Banco. MPs recommend an audit of the BdP’s “organisational culture”.
PS criticised changes to the report; parties accuse it of desperation. Fernando Anastácio (PS) didn’t agree with the final report and resigned as rapporteur. The inquiry committee's final report was approved, with the PS voting against.
+++ August +++
2 August:
Novo Banco said that the Resolution Fund owed it €277.4 million and wenr to court.
20 August:
Government set up working group to analyse losses of BES and BANIF victims
+++ September +++
6 September:
Novo Banco pointed out 41 false, incorrect and fallacious conclusions of the inquiry commission.
30 September:
Competition Court fined Salgado €4 million and Morais Pires €3.5 million in the BESA/Eurofin case. Salgado and former directors announced an appeal.
+++ October +++
12 October:
The Minister of Finance said that, unlike in previous years, “no transfer from the Resolution Fund to Novo Banco is foreseen” in the State Budget for 2022.
18 October:
Ricardo Salgado’s defence asked for the case extracted from Operation Marquês to be suspended due to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
21 October:
Judges rejected a request to suspend Ricardo Salgado’s trial.
28 October:
A draw is made for judge Ivo Rosa to direct the BES case, in which former banker Ricardo Salgado is the target.
+++ November +++
24 November:
CMVM fined Ricardo Salgado €2 million in the RioForte commercial paper case.
29 November:
Novo Banco fined Luís Filipe Vieira €7.6 million.
+++ December +++
9 December:
Novo Banco victims acknowledged that they would appeal to the Human Rights Court if the courts did not rule in their favour.
15 December:
Novo Banco increased its capital by €154.9 million, and the State got 1.56 %.
17 December:
BES migrant victims called on the Finance Ministry to join a working group.
23 December:
Resolution Fund paid €112 million to Novo Banco after “additional enquiry”.
30 December:
The Public Prosecutor’s Office brought charges against eight defendants in a new BES/GES case, a law firm and seven individuals. At issue are offences of active corruption to the detriment of international trade, money laundering, passive corruption in the private sector and document forgery that began a decade ago (2011/2012) and lasted until June 2014. They represent a value of more than €12 million.
+++ 2022 +++
+++ February +++
8 February:
Ricardo Salgado appeared in court for the first time for closing arguments in the trial extracted from Operation Marquês and claimed Alzheimer’s disease to avoid making a statement.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office asked for a prison sentence of no less than 10 years for Ricardo Salgado. The defence asked for Ricardo Salgado’s acquittal and criticises the prosecution’s lack of humanity.
15 February:
The Competition Court confirms the €2 million fine imposed on Ricardo Salgado by the CMVM for practices that harmed BES clients, relating to the placement of commercial paper from Espírito Santo Internacional (ESI) and Rioforte at the bank’s branches.
+++ March +++
7 March:
Former BES chairman Ricardo Salgado was sentenced to six years in prison in the trial of the separate Operation Marquês case.
9 March:
Novo Banco went from losses to profits of €184.5 million in 2021.
Novo Banco announced it would request a further capital injection of €209 million from the bank’s Resolution Fund for 2021.
The Resolution Fund stated that no payment is due for 2021.
+++ April +++
4 April:
The government sent a report on the third special audit of Novo Banco to the parliament
13 April:
Finance Minister Fernando Medina announced that the government did not include any transfer to the Resolution Fund for the loan to Novo Banco in the proposed State Budget for 2022.
26 April:
The pre-trial phase of the BES case began, led by Judge Ivo Rosa.
+++ May +++
5 May:
Mark Bourke, until now Novo Banco’s financial director, was chosen as executive chairman, replacing António Ramalho, who has resigned.
31 May:
Ricardo Salgado’s defence argued in his appeal against his six-year sentence that prison would speed up the former banker’s death.
The Public Prosecutor’s appeal sought to increase Ricardo Salgado’s prison sentence to 10 years.
+++ June +++
1 June:
The Superior Council of the Judiciary gave Ivo Rosa eight months to finalise the BES case.
29 June:
Ricardo Salgado’s defence waived the right to hear the former governor of the Bank of Portugal, Carlos Costa, as part of the pre-trial phase of the BES case.
30 June:
Former prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho was heard by Ivo Rosa in the BES case for just over two hours and left without explaining anything to journalists.
+++ July +++
5 July:
The third audit of Novo Banco detected limitations in the search for debtors’ assets.
12 July
Audit by the Court of Auditors (TdC) found that the State and the Bank of Portugal (BdP) failed to ensure “effective public control” at Novo Banco, thus failing to safeguard the “minimisation of recourse to public financial support” for the bank.
The same audit predicted that the Resolution Fund (FdR) would have to “manage public debt resulting from the resolution of BES” for 35 years, indicating that the repayment of €2.130 billion will only end in 2056.
The Bank of Portugal said that it had minimised the use of “public resources”.
22 July:
The Public Prosecutor’s Office confirms two new charges in the cases linked to the Espírito Santo universe, which target the granting of financing by BES to BESA and the increase in BES’s capital in 2014.
At issue were the diversion of €9.3 million from BES to BESA by Álvaro Sobrinho and the misrepresentation of information in the prospectus for the BES capital increase in 2014.
+++ September +++
6 September:
Judge Ivo Rosa, promoted to judge, is replaced in the BES/GES case by Judge Pedro Santos Correia, who has just over three years of experience.
21 September:
Judge Pedro Santos Correia granted victim status to more than 1,000 BES victims.
27 September:
The Court of Auditors said the scenario of new capital injections into Novo Banco had not been ruled out.
+++ October +++
10 October:
The Competition Court sentenced Ricardo Salgado to a fine of €950,000, lowering by €50,000 the amount applied by the CMVM in the case of the prospectus for the May 2014 capital increase.
+++ December +++
10 December:
The Public Prosecutor’s Office charges former Economy Minister Manuel Pinho and former banker Ricardo Salgado with corruption and money laundering in the EDP case.
Salgado’s defence asks for his client’s case to be dropped due to an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
+++ 2023 +++
+++ January +++
5 January:
The Court of Appeal decided that the BES case is now urgent.
+++ February +++
13 February:
The European Commission concluded Novo Banco's restructuring. The Resolution Fund said the process's conclusion should rule out the need for a new financial injection, and the Bank of Portugal said it eliminated “financial risk” for the State.
25 February:
The former director of BES and Ricardo Salgado’s cousin, José Manuel Espírito Santo, also accused in the process of the bank’s collapse and the only person in charge of the institution to publicly apologise for the bankruptcy process died at the age of 77.
+++ March +++
9 March:
Novo Banco’s profits triple to €560.8 million in 2022. The Bank president said the institution was not in the process of being sold, said he wanted to strengthen the bank and acknowledged a future stock market listing.
13 March:
The Supreme Administrative Court said that the resolution of BES in 2014 was not illegal and did not violate the constitution.
28 March:
The investigative debate begins in the EDP case, which targets Manuel Pinho, his wife and the former chairman of BES, Ricardo Salgado. The Public Prosecutor’s Office asked that all the defendants be brought to trial.
+++ April +++
14 April:
Investigating judge Gabriela Assunção sent Manuel Pinho and Ricardo Salgado to trial in the EDP case.
+++ May +++
2 May:
Debate began in the BES case, after a year of investigation. Ricardo Salgado’s defence insisted on the need for neurological expertise at the risk of nullifying the pre-trial phase because their client was unable to defend himself. The judge rejected the request.
24 May:
The Court of Appeal increased Ricardo Salgado's effective sentence in the separate Operation Marquês case from six to eight years. Salgado's defence considered it an “inhumane decision”.
+++ July +++
3 July:
The Competition Court bundled together three enforcement actions for the coercive collection of fines imposed on Ricardo Salgado, totalling €8 million, from the attachment it ordered on assets seized under the criminal proceedings.
6 July:
The Court of Appeal rejected Salgado’s complaint against the decision to increase his prison sentence to eight years.
31July:
Investigating judge Pedro Santos Correia sent Ricardo Salgado to trial in the BES case and validated almost the entire indictment of the Public Prosecutor's Office, which accused the former banker of 65 crimes in the process of the bank's collapse, which is said to have caused losses of more than €11.8 million.
Ricardo Salgado was absent from the decision's reading. Three dozen victims of the BES collapse, on the other hand, were present outside the court.
+++ August +++
8 August:
The Venezuelan government claimed to have won the court case and recovered €1.366 billion withheld by Novo Banco.
+++ September +++
12 September:
Judge authorised neurological expertise on Ricardo Salgado in the EDP case.
+++ October +++
10 October:
The trial began in the EDP case.
20 October:
José Maria Ricciardi, former director of BES Investimento and Ricardo Salgado’s cousin, said in court that the former banker was the bank’s only interlocutor with José Sócrates’ government and that he influenced the former prime minister to bring Manuel Pinho into the government.
Sócrates replied and accused Ricciardi of lying.
22 October:
It is revealed that the Public Prosecutor’s Office was accusing Ricardo Salgado and six other defendants of corruption in the Espírito Santo Group’s links to Venezuela.
+++ December +++
4 December:
Expert confirms Ricardo Salgado’s diagnosis of Alzheimer”s.
16 December:
BES victims called for Ricardo Salgado’s trial to be urgent.
19 December:
Three former prime ministers were heard in court in the EDP case trial. Durão Barroso said that Manuel Pinho and Ricardo Salgado would have had to be “political geniuses” to foresee the PSD government's fall and the PS's victory in the following elections. Pedro Passos Coelho rejected any favouritism towards Ricardo Salgado. So did José Sócrates. He said that no “stone was left unturned” in the prosecution’s thesis about his relationship with Salgado. And he said that Manuel Pinho was never the “BES man” in his government.
2024
+++ January +++
16 January:
An order from the Lisbon Judicial Court set the start of the trial in the BES case for 28 May.
17 May:
Ricardo Salgado is the target of a new indictment by the Public Prosecutor’s Office extracted from the main case. He is accused of tax fraud amounting to €5.5 million.
25 May:
The Court of Appeal upheld the Public Prosecutor’s appeal and sent Ricardo Salgado to trial in the Operação Marquês case for three corruption offences and eight money laundering offences.
+++ February +++
2 February:
Novo Banco’s profits rise to €743.1 million in 2023
9 February:
Ricardo Salgado appears in court for a session of the EDP case trial. The defence only allows him to be identified and refuses to answer questions due to his Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
29 February:
The Supreme Court of Justice confirmed former banker Ricardo Salgado’s eight-year prison sentence, but acknowledged that the sentence could be suspended due to his state of health.
+++ March +++
12 March:
The Superior Council of the Judiciary postponed the start of the BES trial to 18 June.
+++ April +++
14 April:
BES’s assets are insufficient to pay the Resolution Fund’s privileged claims and there will be no money to pay the 5,000 common and subordinated creditors, according to the Liquidation Commission’s 2023 report and accounts.
17 April:
BES victims appealed against the judge's decision in January to withdraw the compensation claims from the criminal case and refer them to the civil courts.
23 April:
The judge accepted the injured parties’ appeals without suspending the start of the trial.
+++ May +++
2 May:
Problems notifying defendants force a further postponement of the start of the BES trial. The new date will probably be in September.
+++ June +++
6 June:
In the EDP case, the court sentenced Manuel Pinho to 10 years in prison and Ricardo Salgado to six years and three months in prison. Salgado's defence says the court punished “someone who no longer exists.”
21 June:
The judge in the BES case set 15 October as the date for the trial to begin.
+++ July +++
15 July:
An investigation decision sent the former president of BES Angola (BESA) and Ricardo Salgado to trial, fully validating the prosecution's accusation in the BESA case.
18 July:
Ricardo Salgado was accused of corruption linked to Banco do Brasil in an autonomous case from the Espírito Santo universe and will face a new trial.
+++ August +++
2 August:
Victims marked ten years since the collapse of BES with a demonstration in Porto and claimed €45 million.
3 August:
Ten years since the BES resolution.
10 August:
The Bank of Portugal confirmed that 300 lawsuits were pending against it and the Resolution Fund challenged decisions in the BES resolution process.
IMA/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
