Knives sharpen as BES inquiry gets underway

Seventeen MPs have begun the parliamentary inquiry into “the truth of the facts” behind the BES banking scandal.
Just as the forensic audit ordered to establish the depth of the financial horror is due to be completed, the MPs have until October 19 to draw up a list of all those they wish to question.
Opening the inquiry just after midday on Thursday (yesterday), parliamentary president Assunção Esteves told the all-party group: “I hope for good work.”
She has given the MPs 120 days to complete their brief.
According to national tabloid Correio da Manhã, “the shockwaves of the BES scandal are still far from being known” and will have “gigantic effects on the economy”.
Far from government assurances in the summer that taxpayers would not be affected, all are now agreed that taxpayers will most certainly be feeling the effects of the €4.9 billion bailout which experts admit cannot possibly be recouped.
CM similarly reports that Bank of Portugal boss Carlos Costa (pictured) has already filed a criminal complaint against the head of the BES banking clan, Ricardo Espírito Santo Salgado, and his former administrator Amílcar Morais Pires.
Talking in parliament as the inquiry got underway, Costa said that the forensic audit currently unravelling the scandal would be ready “soon, despite the difficulties found trying to access information from opaque or uncollaborative jurisdictions”.
He intimated that laws will need to be changed “to limit the existence of groups that combine financial institutions with other companies in disparate geographical locations and fiscal tax havens”.
Meantime, opposition MPs are pushing for the new inquiry to finally tackle the extent of BES involvement in the submarine scandal.
Although a parliamentary inquiry has concluded that there were no million euro backhanders in the purchase of two submarines and military equipment, many MPs are furious, alleging that parliament should not be used as a “laundry for whitewashing facts” and protecting politicians like former PM Durão Barroso and former Defence Minister (now deputy PM) Paulo Portas.
The MPs are reported to be hoping to use the BES inquiry to hone in on how much money BES subsidiary Escom received for its consulting services in the purchase of the submarines, and how much went to BES key players, including Salgado.