The Governor of the Bank of Portugal, Carlos ‘Mr Magoo’ Costa, said today that the responsibility for the appointment of the new management team at Caixa Geral de Depósitos was down to the government, with the approval the European Central Bank, and that he had nothing to do with the disaster that left the bank rudderless at a crucial time.
"The Bank of Portugal did not have any decisive role in this matter. It was up to the European Central Bank," said Carlos Costa, at the start of the committee of inquiry into the Caixa Geral fiasco that saw Domingues at the helm for just over three troubled months last year.
"The proposal for the appointment of members of Caixa Geral’s board is the responsibility of its one shareholder - the State, and the authorisation to perform functions is from the European Central Bank," said Costa who said his role is limited, in the appointment of any bank director in Portugal, to collecting paperwork and handing it to the European Central Bank.
Carlos Costa told the committee MPs that António Domingues, the former Caixa Geral chairman, informed him ‘ in passing’ that he had been invited to run the State owned bank on April 19, 2016.
This is the second commission of inquiry into Caixa Geral de Depósitos and aims to evaluate the current government's performance in the appointment and dismissal of the bank’s management headed by António Domingues.
Carlos Costa was called by PSD and CDS-PP committee members to ascertain whether "it is true or not that the Finance Minister negotiated an exemption for António Domingues so he did not have to present a declaration of income and assets." This cosy deal was denied by Finance Minister, Mário Centeno who later admitted that there had been "a possible misunderstanding."
Carlos Costa explained that as the regulator "was neither involved nor had any intervention" in the hiring of António Domingues it also had no involvement in any deal to exempt him from declaring his income and assets.
Domingues already has explained to parliament that he had no doubt that the government had agreed to exempt his new team at Caixa Geral from filing the declarations but then changed its mind.
The highlight of Carlos Costa's hearing was over the conflict of interests and breach of bank secrecy that preceded the appointment of António Domingues who had begun working on Caixa Geral’s recapitalisation plan when he was still vice president of another bank, BPI.
This issue has already been raised by several parliamentary groups, with MP Marques Guedes accusing the governor of the Bank of Portugal of having "washed his hands" of anything to do with Caixa Geral’s management issues.
Marques Guedes, along with Left Bloc, PCP and CDS members of parliament, ended up summarising Carlos Costa's explanations as a "mess.”
