The accusations are contained in a 432-page document produced by law firm Uría Menéndez-Proença de Carvalho, seen by Portuguese newspapers Diário de Notícias and Diário Económico and which is a reply to the misdemeanor process opened by the Portuguese central bank against Ricardo Salgado.


The document, which attacks the accusations made against Ricardo Salgado, questions the resolution that was applied to BES and announced to the country on 3 August last year.


On 3 August 2014, the Bank of Portugal took over the reins of BES after it had presented net half-yearly losses of €3.6 billion and split the institution into a bad bank with all the toxic assets and liabilities (a vehicle which is still called BES, and where the shareholders are corralled) and a good bank, although it is only transitory, called Novo Banco.


In the document published in today’s press, the former banker’s defence says that “BES did not Fail. It was forced to disappear by the Bank of Portugal [BdP], with help from the Portuguese government, led by Pedro Passos Coelho”.


It also says that the “success of BES’ disappearance was rewarded with the reappointment of Carlos Costa” at the Bank of Portugal, and suggests that in the future, “who knows, he may even be designated as an administrator of the European Central Bank (ECB)”.