“I always believed that we should have been more decisive in the decision [to remove Álvaro Sobrinho from BESA], but Dr. Ricardo [Salgado] did not want to take that path. Dr. Ricardo always stood by Dr. Álvaro Sobrinho,” stated Amílcar Morais Pires on the second day of the BESA trial in Lisbon. He is being charged with breach of trust and fraud.
The Angolan banker eventually left BESA on June 28, 2013, over a year after Amílcar Morais Pires took over the subsidiary of BES.
The departure occurred after BESA’s Angolan minority shareholders decided to end the “institutional conflict” between Álvaro Sobrinho and his appointed successor in BESA’s Executive Commission, Rui Guerra, an interim solution facilitated by Ricardo Salgado.
The decision, which came at a time when the Angolan banker refused to report to Amílcar Morais Pires, resulted in Álvaro Sobrinho becoming the chairman of the bank’s Board of Directors.
“During the first quarter of 2013, Dr. Rui Guerra was already in Angola and reported to me […] that Dr. Álvaro Sobrinho continued issuing orders as chairman of the Board of Directors, which interfered with the Executive Commission’s sphere,” reported the 63-year-old economist today.
Amílcar Morais Pires also emphasized this morning that, in June 2012, he shared with administrators and shareholders the information provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding the Angolan subsidiary’s imbalances and the potential risk it posed to the Portuguese bank, even though this was not reflected in the meeting minutes.
The defendant explained the omission, mentioning that the memorandum containing this information was deemed “confidential,” highlighting that “not all matters” discussed within BES’s bodies are recorded in the minutes.
The warning aimed to address the interpretation expressed by the panel of judges that in a meeting minute from that date, Amílcar Morais Pires appeared to reassure those present about BESA’s situation rather than alerting them to the Angolan bank’s problems.
The case primarily involves the alleged diversion of funds between 2007 and 2012 from a BES financing to BESA into money market credit lines and overdrafts.
Alongside Amílcar Morais Pires, the defendants include Ricardo Salgado, 80, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, Álvaro Sobrinho, 62, Luso-Angolan businessman Helder Bataglia, 78, and former BES administrator Rui Silveira.
Generally, the defendants face charges of breach of trust, money laundering, and fraud, all of which they deny.
The trial continues this afternoon and on the next session scheduled for May 19, with the ongoing interrogation of Amílcar Morais Pires.
BES collapsed in the summer of 2014, and BESA was liquidated in the following October.
