Lisbon, May 5, 2025 (Lusa) - The former right-hand man to Ricardo Salgado, the one-time CEO of Banco Espírito Santo, a Portuguese bank wound up in 2014, said in court on Monday that when he took over the portfolio of Banco Espírito Santo Angola (BESA) in 2012, his boss informed him that Álvaro Sobrinho, the then chairman of BESA, would not actually be reporting to him.
On the first day of his trial for abuse of trust and fraud, in Lisbon, Amílcar Morais Pires said that at the time he asked Salgado, then CEO of BES, to inform him about the issues "pending in the Angola dossier" and to give him guidelines on how to discuss the institution's financial situation with BESA and that Salgado replied that although Morais Pires was formally in charge, he could not contact Álvaro Sobrinho.
"Dr. Ricardo [Salgado] said he would look into the matter," said the 63-year-old economist. "I shouldn't expect Dr Álvaro Sobrinho to report to me. He would continue to report to Dr Ricardo."
Asked by the presiding judge in the trial if this meant that Salgado had material responsibility for BESA, Morais Pires replied that it did.
"Dr Ricardo [Salgado] told me: ‘I'll talk to Álvaro [Sobrinho] first before handing over the portfolio to you.’," he told the judge, adding that until the BESA general meeting of 6 November 2012, he had no contact with Sobrinho.
Morais Pires had taken over the BESA portfolio in May 2012 as part of an internal reorganisation.
The defendant stressed that he only learnt about the financial imbalances in BES's Angolan subsidiary and the major risks this posed to the parent bank in Portugal in June 2012, at a meeting with representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank of Portugal, at a time when the country had sought a bailout from these institutions and the European Commission.
Three days later, the IMF's warning was discussed by BES's executive board, Morais Pires said.
"My actions throughout my term [overseeing BESA] were always discussed with the members of the executive board [of BES]," he emphasised, rejecting the accusation that he had omitted information.
At issue in this case is the alleged misappropriation, between 2007 and 2012, of funds from a BES loan to BESA in the form of Interbank Money Market (IMM) credit lines and bank overdrafts.
On Monday, Amílcar Morais Pires recalled with regard to BESA's subscription of Angolan public debt around 20 years ago, that "there was always, at least during one phase, institutional cover from the Angolan state" in the relationship between the two banks, reflected, for example, in the significant deposit in BES of foreign reserves from the National Bank of Angola (BNA).
In testimony that will continue on Friday, the economist also associated the subscription of public debt issued by the African country with a need to show "commitment to Angola" at a time when there were rumours of the nationalisation of banks there.
The defendants in the trial also include Salgado, 80 and suffering from Alzheimer's, Sobrinho, 62, Portuguese-Angolan businessman Helder Bataglia, 78, and former BES director Rui Silveira.
Only Morais Pires and Silveira were present at Monday's first session of the trial.
Salgado was authorised by the court not to attend due to his state of health; so was Bataglia, because he lives in Angola.
Sobrinho, who claimed that he lacked the necessary visa to travel to Portugal to stand trial, was fined €204 by the court for his failure to appear.
In general, the defendants face charges of abuse of trust, money laundering and fraud; they all deny committing the offences.
IB/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
