With the trial into the implosion of BES bank 10 years ago still weeks away from starting, another ‘key figure’ has left the complicated picture. This time it is civil construction boss José Guilherme, the man who ‘gave’ former BES president Ricardo Salgado €14 million in a series of transfers, just as a ‘thank you present’ for advice given (or so the story goes)… In 2015, when answering questions posed by the BES commission of inquiry, Mr Guilherme admitted that his debt to the BES/ GES empire at the time it imploded was “around €121 million”. He died today, aged 78. The trial is already going to ‘miss’ a number of key figures, not least Ricardo Salgado – charged with multiple crimes, but who is suffering from Alzheimer’s and unable to defend himself.
Civil construction boss and one of BES’ banks’ greatest debtors dies before trial
