The allegations concern the diversion of funds, between 2007 and 2012, from financing provided by Banco Espírito Santo (BES) to Banco Espírito Santo Angola (BESA) through Interbank Money Market (MMI) credit lines and unauthorized bank overdrafts.
Álvaro Sobrinho, aged 62, faces charges from the Public Prosecutor’s Office for 18 counts of aggravated breach of trust and five counts of money laundering. Meanwhile, Ricardo Salgado, aged 80 and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, is charged with five counts of breach of trust and one of qualified fraud.
Sitting alongside them in the defendants’ dock are Amílcar Morais Pires, formerly considered the right-hand man of Ricardo Salgado, the former BES administrator Rui Silveira, and the Luso-Angolan businessman Helder Bataglia.
The defendants allegedly gained illicit advantages totaling approximately five billion euros and more than 210 million dollars.
In his defense, Álvaro Sobrinho argues that the Prosecutor’s charges, issued in July 2022, are “rife with legal inaccuracies and obvious errors,” failing to explain the plan that allegedly led to the crimes attributed to the five defendants.
The trial is set to commence at 09:30 at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon, with the former banker Ricardo Salgado excused from attending due to his health condition.
Álvaro Sobrinho challenges the validity of the 90-day visa granted for attending the trial in Portugal, which has sessions scheduled until the end of the year, and has requested to participate via videoconference.
Helder Bataglia has requested to be tried in absentia, as he resides in Angola.
BES collapsed in the summer of 2014, while BESA was liquidated in October of that year.
