In a new twist to investigations into corruption at Banco Espírito Santo, Tuesday morning saw the full force of the PJ’s anti-corruption unit descend on the Lisbon offices of Portugal Telecom.
At the same time, investigations went ahead at the city’s branch of professional services multinational PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
According to news reports, the searches – overseen by “super judge” Carlos Alexandre – were connected with the ill-timed loan of €897 million, made by PT to Rioforte (a BES subsidiary) months before the bank collapsed.
The loan was never paid back. Rioforte was later declared insolvent – and the much-anticipated merger of PT with Brazilian operator Oi was damaged beyond repair – leading to the current sale of PT at a knockdown price to French group Altice.
According to a statement put out this morning by the Attorney General’s office, Tuesday’s police swoop was prompted by “suspicions of economic participation in business and qualified fraud”.
The investigation, shared with DCIAP (the department of penal investigation), came as Rioforte’s president João Rodrigo Pena gave evidence at the parliamentary inquiry ongoing into BES.
It also followed a report in last week’s Expresso suggesting the long-delayed audit by PWC would highlight “serious accusations of former administrators of Portugal Telecom” – namely Henrique Granadeiro and Zeinal Bava.
Neither Granadeiro nor Bava remain at PT. The former resigned in the heat of the loan-scandal and Bava moved to Oi from which he later resigned.
