Almost five years after the bank’s failure, Ricardo Salgado told TSF news radio he had been thinking of the clients who lost their money.
Ricardo Salgado guaranteed that until June 2014 failure was never a possibility. “There were other solutions to save the bank, but there was no political will and the Bank of Portugal refused the bank’s recapitalisation three times”, he said.
After people started withdrawing their money and after “a brutal lack of trust” there was only one solution: “boost confidence”, but “there was a huge pressure to shut down the bank”.
Questioned about his responsibility, Ricardo Salgado only acknowledged “misjudgements”.
“I did not reject responsibilities in the Parliamentary Commission, because it is impossible to manage a bank for 22 years without any mistakes, but they were mostly misjudgements”, he said.
“There may have been wrong choices from the management team, particularly those related to Angola”, he added.
During the interview to TSF news radio, Ricardo Salgado also rejected responsibilities regarding the clients who lost their money.
“What I can say is this: it was not me who chose the failure. When I was in charge that scenario was not possible, so I was not the one to harm the clients”, he argued.
“I think of the clients injured every single day. And it makes me suffer”.
Ricardo Salgado announced he is writing his memories and he is preparing his defence.