Pharol, formerly Portugal Telecom SGPS, has lodged court proceedings against three former PT directors, but this is just the start as the former Chief Executive Zeinal Bava and accountancy firm Deloitte are next on the list.
The lawsuit lodged on Thursday cites Henrique Granadeiro, a former chief executive of PT, Pacheco de Melo, PT's former finance director and Amílcar Morais Pires, the former PT director representing major shareholder Banco Espírito Santo.
Notice of the cases against the three former directors was received by the stock market regulator CMVM and released to the press on Friday.
The notice to the regulator stated that Pharol wants to recover the difference between the money lent by PT to Grupo Espírito Santo subsidiary Rioforte, €897 million, and any compensation and repayment it might receive as Rioforte is wound up, plus costs and interest.
The board of PT lent Rioforte the money which was never returned as the company was insolvent, later fileing for creditor protection in Luxembourg which was refused in December 2014.
Rioforte was declared beyond salvation, since which 586 properties have been seized with a value of €1.8 billion to start to repay its many creditors, PT among them.
In addition to this process against Henrique Granadeiro, Pacheco de Melo and Amílcar Morais Pires, Pharol is to mount similar legal actions against former Chief Executive Zeinal Bava and against Deloitte, PT’s former auditor.
Zeinal Bava was moved from PT to Oi in Brazil as the heat was turned up in Lisbon over allegations surrounding PT’s authorisation and management of the inexplicable and monstrously large loan to Rioforte.
Bava’s later was dismissal from Oi at the behest of powerful shareholders but his sacking came with a bonus, a €5.4 million payment to make the three year ban from working in telecoms a bit more palatable.
Zeinal Bava’s payment is in the form of 36 monthly instalments of €150,000 on top of the estimated €50 million that he earned during his career at Portugal Telecom, plus bonuses during the PT merger with Oi, yet he claimed to be unaware of any loans to Rioforte, a claim that not many believe and one that soon will be tested in court.
Henrique Granadeiro resigned from the board of Portugal Telecom in August 2014 wanting to defend the "interests of shareholders," and wrote, "I am sure that the external and independent audit already ordered by the board of directors will clarify the processes and causes of the incident and will demonstrate that I always acted in the best interest of PT, of its employees and all shareholders."
Granadeiro said he did not resign immediately over the Rioforte affair as he wanted to engage in "building a solution that best defend the interests of the affected shareholders.”
This self-serving nonsense also will be tested in court to the full.
The proposal to take these former directors to court was approved by 99.9% of the votes at a Pharol shareholders’ meeting on 31 July, 2015.
During this shareholders meeting, Henrique Granadeiro’s lawyer, Nuno Líbano Monteiro tried to suspend procedings claiming that the Pharol board had not provided sufficient information.
In addition to Deloitte and four former directors of PT, the list of names is likely to get longer and is expected soon to include names from BES and Novo Banco.
Comments
Now Sept 2015 and no report ?
Everything is back to front here. Like everywhere else in Portuguese life, too often Portuguese 'regulators' borrowing phrases from the developed world to reassure. Sounds great - Here audit and report back to clarify. It means something entirely different in Portugal. Here -
Firstly: find out what incriminating evidence is around. The emails,phone bills and diary entries that might prove who said what to who, when and where.
Secondly - look for corroborating evidence, proof someone was at work that day. Someone who 'should' have been at certain meetings at which something incrimidating was agreed and therefore involved.
Thirdly - Gather it all up and DESTROY IT!