There was “presidential system” in BES, Salgado knew everything – publico

There was "presidential system" in BES, Salgado knew everything – publico

                 

                         
                     

                         
                     

                         

                 

 
                         

The last four hearings in the inquiry committee to the management of Espírito Santo Group (GES) have something in common:. Managers and shareholders of BES are now in a kind of game

                     

                          Whose responsibility for the problems? Salgado pointed to the accountant Machado da Cruz and his cousin, Jose Maria Ricciardi. Cousin desavindo came soon after and returned: the responsibility is Salgado, without forgetting that Amilcar Morais Pires was the financial responsibility …

The next day, Pedro Queiroz Pereira (PQP) acquitted Ricciardi (lived “in a panic”) but left a loose end: Jose Maria Ricciardi knew everything in detail, as the industrial destapava weaknesses of GES in 2013. Amilcar Morais Pires, the last to appear before the commission investigation, on Thursday agreed with PQP on one point: Salgado managed the bank in a “presidential system”. He knew everything, “to the details.” “I was the right-hand man, the left and the little finger … But there were very important people in the bank. One of them was Dr.. Ricciardi. Ricciardi was common administrator BESI and BES “developed. All were accompanied by St. Benedict of their lawyers and to present their legal defense strategies.

“Perfect Storm”
“In conscience, I do not supported public demonstrations of the authorities in the comfort they gave to the people for BES situation, “said Morais Pires, who closed the weekly round of hearings. For the former CFO (Chief Financial Officer, or CFO) of BES, 20 days before the collapse already the environment around the BES was unstable, which led him “to alert” to the “existence of external signs of stress objectives. ” He recalled that at the meeting of the Board of Directors of 11 July “several” of those present, including representatives of Crédit Agricole – second largest shareholder of the bank – “supported” the thesis “the scene stress” . “I use the term ‘perfect storm’, which could worsen in the coming weeks.”

This information, he noted, were “recorded in the minutes” to the Bank of Portugal and whose reading counseled: “The price of the bank is in sharp decline, the price of CDS’s [risk insurance contracts, risk indicators of the bank] BES rose very significantly, the cost of their debt in the secondary market also increased a lot and there have been outputs deposits and interbank lines of cuts in large amount. It is, in short, the context of stress very serious, that it is essential the Council is well aware. “

The meeting in question was a single point on the agenda “Dealing with Blackstone” to “external expert support with a view to a possible recapitalization.” The manager concluded that its “appeal was ignored and lost” in his opinion “the last opportunity to recapitalize the BES.” And despite the “message of tranquility” which continued to be conveyed to the markets by the authorities [bop and Government], Morais Pires ensures that “could not assume this position”, because it could be necessary “drawing on the facility of emergency liquidity from the Bank of Portugal.”

The critical moment
Despite the acceleration of events in 2014, Pires Morais found that September 2013 was the critical moment for BES. The old BES financial officer said the declaration of Ricardo Salgado that BES did not fail, but was forced to fail, “stressing that” the BES had not disappeared. ” “I’m not the Holy Spirit family, I am a modest shareholder who invested in the capital increase,” he said. But the facts show that “the BES crisis, before a capital crisis was a liquidity crisis” and could have been a solution and “BES would have survived.”

About his relationship with Ricardo Salgado, who was considered right-hand man – and his successor – he noted: “I was not the handyman. There are the owners of it. I was not the handyman. “According to Morais Pires, though I have the financial monitoring, the responsibilities of accounting and investor relations were responsible for Salgado. And argues that “there were very important people to work in the bank,” including “Jose Maria Ricciardi,” with more power than the CFO: “It is fair to say that his name was only on paper. Was responsible for [risk] with dr. Joaquim Goes. It was common director of BES and Espírito Santo International “.