Several BES customers who were duped into investing in allegedly ‘safe’ commercial bonds from Espírito Santo Group companies visited Novo Banco in Lisbon today to identify those staff members who had sold them the deals.
The new move is the precursor to accusing staff member and managers of aggravated fraud.
In groups of three, as instructed by the police who accompanied the investors, the out of pocket customers entered the Novo Banco premises and started to identify former BES bank managers, staff, regional directors and area directors who directly or indirectly had been involved in selling them the high risk bonds.
"Customers entered the bank to identify those responsible, against whom they will bring a lawsuit for aggravated fraud," said Pedro Martins, one of the BES customers affected by the bond sales.
The identification of those responsible at the bank against whom the injured parties want to bring actions began in Lisbon and in some northern areas of the country last week, according to Martins, who added that the goal is to prove in court that the commercial paper was sold as a ‘safe’ product.
"Some BES customers have evidence, including documents, that show that the product was sold by the bank as having ‘no risk’" said Martins who added that all in all, hundreds of BES staff and managers have been identified so far.
The Bank of Portugal's Carlos Costa denies any regulatory failure, as does the stock market regulator CMVM, the Novo Banco chief executive Stock da Cunha and the Ministry of Finance who all blame each other for the €500 million of losses suffered by around 2,500 BES customers.
