Sobrinho charged with 18 counts of abuse of trust; five of money laundering
Álvaro Sobrinho, the former chairman of BESA (BES Angola) – on whose watch billions of euros went missing – has been fined €204 today for missing the first session of a trial that has taken over 10 years to reach a courtroom.
Also missing from the trial today are former BES president Ricardo Salgado (dispensed from appearing due to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease/ advanced dementia), and Portuguese Angolan businessman Hélder Bataglia, who lives in Angola. Bataglia’s non-appearance has been authorised by the court.
Sobrinho’s however has not – nor has his excuse over a visa discrepancy.
The trial has 45 sessions scheduled until the end of the year, and thus it is very possible that should Mr Sobrinho fail to appear in person, he will be similarly fined for other ‘no shows’. A request to attend the trial by videolink has been denied, explains Lusa.
The problem with this ‘news’ is that it doesn’t address the fact that if it is impossible to bring Mr Sobrinho physically to Portugal to attend such an important trial, it may well be equally difficult to ensure that he heeds the final verdict (whatever that may be): Angola famously has no extradition agreement with Portugal, which is why trials in the past have encountered enormous obstacles.
Who is attending the trial are Amílcar Morais Pires, “considered Ricardo Salgado’s former right-hand man”, and former BES director Rui Silveira.
At issue, recalls Lusa, is the alleged misappropriation (between 2007 and 2012) of around €5 billion and more than 210 million US dollars. These amounts refer to funds from a BES loan to BESA in Interbank Money Market credit lines and bank overdrafts.
One very possible reason for Mr Sobrinho’s no show is that he has already had 30 properties, two vehicles and sundry bank accounts ‘seized’ by public prosecutors in this country as a way of guaranteeing his ‘repayment’ of monies which they say are due to the Portuguese State. Only last year, he claimed that his ‘economic subsistence’ was at risk. He has since been living in Angola.
For now, the trial has at least opened, with the public prosecutor promising to prove the crimes attributed to the five defendants, and the various defences arguing to the contrary.
The trial will continue this afternoon with the questioning of Amílcar Morais Pires, the only one of the two present who has so far agreed to speak in court.
“What they are doing to me in this case is a profound injustice. I am here to defend myself and to demonstrate that I always acted in defence of BES and BESA, and that this case is completely unjustified,” he told Lusa as he left for lunch. ND
Source material: LUSA
