BES victims demonstrate 10 years on…

Victims of the collapse of Banco Espírito Santo (BES) almost exactly 10 years ago took to the streets once again today, to demand the €45 million they say they are still owed. Wearing black tshirts emblazoned with the phrase “never give up”, the former investors in commercial paper staged their demonstration in Avenida dos Aliados, in Porto, insisting that they have been robbed (not simply by the bank, mis-selling commercial paper, but by the Bank of Portugal knowing all about it, yet not ensuring they were fully compensated). Ten years on from this banking debacle that has so far cost the country upwards of €8 billion, the actual trial of those considered responsible, is scheduled for October, with the ‘main protagonist’ now very much ‘lost’ to Alzheimer’s.