Banker José Maria Ricciardi has accused his cousin Ricardo Salgado of "absolutely disgraceful and ruinous management" as the head of Grupo Espírito Santo.
Ricciardi (pictured) added that Salgado "manipulated and controlled" the family and other major shareholders in exchange for "perks".
Ricciardi made the allegations during a Business Week programme on SIC Notícias. He added that the perks included "materials, power and presence in society."
Ricciardi said that these people, whom he identified only as ‘family and major shareholders of the Espírito Santo Group (GES),’ understood that they should keep quiet which made him an accomplice from the moment he learned of such activities.
Ricciardi reamined at the head of the investment bank belonging to the group which since has been sold to the Chinese Haitong company and said that he had a "clear conscience" about the whole situation.
Asked if Ricardo Salgado 'bought people with perks,' Ricciardi rejected using the term ‘bought’, preferring to say that Salgado "manipulated and controlled" the people concerned.
These people ended up believing that it was Ricciardi who was to blame for the collapse of Grupo Espírito Santo which he said was ‘ridiculous’ because if the management was down to him, the group would not have collapsed.
Ricardo Salgado remain under house arrest and has refused to make any statements apart from those at his first and only hearing at the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon after he was arrested and charged with fraud, breach of trust, forgery and money laundering.
Another former BES director, Joachim Goes, who once was thought of as a possible successor to Ricardo Salgado has sent the Bank of Portugal a document that throws all the blame for issuing commercial paper to BES depositors on two people: Ricardo Salgado and fellow board director Amílcar Morais Pires.
Goes said the two directors "deliberately" intended to hide things and had provided incomplete and biased information for customers so as to hide the risky nature of the investments.
The document outlines each step of the commercial paper scheme in which BES customers lost €720 million when the Salgado empire came crashing down around his ears.
Comments
C'mon guys. Portugal's elite is what has held Portugal back precisely through Corruption and the trading of materials, power and presence in society. The manipulation of the fabric of business this way is exactly how the Revolution never had the slightest chance here in Portugal. And by excluding other players why Portugal has so little to offer the EU. And continues to send the message to the world that the EU is all basketcases.
These are not the Boy Scouts and being in the Espirito Santo clan from birth this guy was well aware that doors opened for him because of who he was rather than anything he would achieve through hard work.