The report, which was released last week, shows that between July and September of last year, actions were lodged against Novo Banco - the ‘good bank’ set up to take over BES’s ongoing commercial business - the securities markets commission, the CMVM (the sector regulator), the Bank of Portugal, and the banking sector Resolution Fund.
According to the report, the 400 or so pending actions include some lodged by investors against directors or employees of financial companies.
“Of these actions the Portuguese state was cited, up to September of 2016, in 18 cases”, the report states, noting that this citation relates to the responsibility of the state and its members - the president, prime minister among them - “in the ambit of the concession of the loan to the resolution fund and of the expectations that arose at the time about the solidity of BES.”
Before BES was wound up by the Bank of Portugal in August 2014, several leading figures made public statements to the effect that the bank was sound.
The report notes that the huge procedural difficulties are presented by a case of this size and the “high degree of technicality” involved, which demands that prosecutors have knowledge in the fields of tax, banking and the economy.