The murky past of Ricardo Salgado is starting to receive the bright light of exposure as his dealings with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company now is in the spotlight.The use of a covert Grupo Espírito Santo company, the now-infamous ES-Enterprises, to pay an estimated €100 million to 30 offshore companies was part of a successful plan to divert billions from Petróleos de Venezuela.
Ricardo Salgado and a former Banco Espirito Santo branch manager in Madeira are being investigated for the involvement of BES and the Espírito Santo Group in the diversion of €3.5 billion from PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela).
The investigation involves authorities in the United States, Spain and Venezuela and involves diverted funds that ended up in bank accounts at BES Madeira, BES Luxembourg, Banque Privée Espírito Santo in Switzerland and Espírito Santo Bankers in Dubai.
Petróleos de Venezuela also lost €1.5 billion invested in Grupo Espírito Santo commercial paper in 2014.
The link between Salgado and Rafael Ramirez, who chaired PDVSA between November 2004 and September 2014, also is being looked at closely by investigators.
The offshore accounts were controlled by several Petróleos de Venezuela managers who received their share of €100 million from ES Enterprises.
These complex inquiries prompted a visit by lawyer Baltazar Garzón, a former Spanish judge, to Portugal’s Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP) on January 15th this year.
Lawyers representing the Venezuelan oil company spoke with Portuguese authorities about the local investigation of BES/Grupo Espírito Santo links to Venezuela.
The case is as large as it is complicated but Salgado’s involvement in Venezuela is well known and, with multi-billion losses linked to offshore transfers, the net is closing in.
Salgado famously stated that he has never corrupted anybody – he may not have needed to in this case as those involved in draining Venezuela’s oil revenues already were corrupt.
