Ricardo Salgado today was heard for the second time by the parliamentary committee investigating the collapse of Banco Espirito Santo.
Stopping well short of any sort of an apology, Salgado ‘regretted’ what happened to customers and workers, and vowed to fight for his honor and that of his family, adding that he it's nothing to do with money.
Salgado’s main target today was Carlos Costa, the Governor of the Bank of Portugal whom he blames for not helping out with liquidity, and then pulling the plug last August when BES was insolvent.
Ricardo Salgado said that Espírito Santo International and some other group companies in the non-financial area really should have started to reduce their debts as early as 2007 and admitted to having made some mistakes - but will have handy answers for all of them should any of this ever come to court.
Espírtito Santo International was put up for sale but ended up with debts of €9.165 billion, according to figures released by Deloitte in its recent financial audit. Salgado says this loss was due to the international financial crisis, others blame his astoundingly poor perception of international trends, market indicators and a refusal to admit he was mortal.
Salgado admits some mistakes and but refused to apologise because he “always defended the interests of the bank, shareholders and customers."
Salgado said "I will not say that I had nothing to do with anything, but I did not have everything to do with everything."
"I know that the years I have left will be consumed in this struggle to reveal the truth," said the former banker, who will devote himself to clearing his name and that of the family. He did spare a passing thought for those who has lost money, but still no apology.
The former banker complained that details of the Deloitte forensic audit had been leaked to the media after it had been delivered to the Bank of Portugal. The report cites 21 illegal activities, all of which he has answers for.
Salgado assured the committee "that there was never misuse of funds," that the division of BES into Good Bank and Bad Bank hurt BES rather than protected it and that the supervisor expressed a lack of impartiality and "did not understand" what was going on in the market and at Grupo Espírito Santo, all of which contributed to the "destruction of BES."
Salgado challenged each of the Deloitte audit points and Bank of Portugal arguments over the intervention and carving up of BES, claiming that the regulator was indecisive and that "this instability and lack of confidence" eventually bankrupted BES.
"In just two days more than two billion euros was withdrawn from BES" which led to a liquidity problem that only was resolved by the Bank of Portugal closing down the bank.
As for the Portugal Telecom loan of €900 million to Rioforte which was never repaid, Salgado said that former Managing Directors of PT Bava and Grenadier knew all about loan to Rioforte, something they deny as they are sticking to their defence of ‘a big boy did it and ran away.’
An earlier PwC audit into the financing of Grupo Espírito Santo companies by Portugal Telecom suggests that Banco Espírito Santo, specifically Ricardo Salgado, concealed vital financial information from the Portugal Telecom board as to the true financial situation at Rioforte. Salgado no doubt will have an answer for that too.
In fact, Salgado has an answer for everything and shows not the slightest regret that his disastrous management led this once proud Portuguese household name into bankruptcy.
Despite his smooth performance today, Sallgado's high-handed fight to restore the family name is as Quixotic as it is unachievable and his inability to view past events from anything other than the elevated position that he used to occupy will make his downfall all the harder for him to bear.
