The Association formed by those outside Portugal who in 2014 were fiddled out of their deposits by BES management, is to meet the President of Portugal this week alongside representatives from the Stock Market regulator and Socialist and Left Bloc MPs to discuss their loss and who is going to pay up.
Lawyer António Pereira de Almeida is representing around 2,000 BES customers who were "deceived by the bank as they wanted their savings in timed deposits with capital and interest guaranteed, but managers at BES switched their money into complex financial products" to prop up the crumbling financial empire presided over by Ricardo Salgado.
These BES customers want negotiations to start in order to resolve their case which is little different to the case of those similarly treated in Portugal who also have yet to find a resolution despite hours of discussion.
Members of the Association of Aggrieved Portuguese Emigrants (AMELP) have been stripped of their savings totaling about €150 million which evaporated as various Grupo Espírito Santo companies collapsed.
"Novo Banco can not distance itself from a solution," said Pereira de Almeida, explaining that Novo Banco has "effective responsibility" that was transferred when the ‘resolution’ was applied to BES by the Bank of Portugal and the shiny Novo Banco was created, leaving the debts and toxic loans with BES.
Novo Banco already has made an offer to this group of account holders, which around 400 customers took up, but thousands did not accept the proposal as AMELP did not consider that it was fair, stating that the solution did not fit the customer profile.
The bank had offered two alternative financial savings products, both with delayed access to the sums owed, and did not guarantee repayment, while adding high-handedly that the only alternative was for customers to take the bank, led by Stuck da Cunha, to court - hardly a helpful or cooperative stance in trying to resolve serious problems with many people's life savings wiped out.
AMELP has accused the Portuguese authorities of totally ignoring the BES customers who live abroad and have marked two protest days in Paris on May 14th and June 10th.
The June date will coincide with the traditional Portugal Day celebrations in the French capital which President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is due to attend. Members of the Association say the demonstration "may be less peaceful" if there have been no developments over the loss of their savings.
