Has to surrender passport
Former President of BES Angola Álvaro Sobrinho has had a very bad afternoon. Following our news earlier this evening, he has now emerged from his audience with Judge Alexandre, with the news that he has to post €6 million bail, and surrender his passport until such time as bail has been delivered.
“He can only leave the country, within Schengen Space, once he has paid his bail. And even so he will not be able to leave Europe”, says CNN Portugal.
Judge Alexandre also reinstated the lien on Mr Sobrinho’s various assets in Portugal (namely six luxury apartments in the Estoril-Sol complex) and refrozen the bank accounts that had been released by disgraced former judge Rui Rangel.
This all sounds ‘very bad’ for Mr Sobrinho, but former MEP Ana Gomes has since tweeted: “Only his Portuguese passport? And the other ones, the other nationalities that one buys here and there in countries that sell ‘golden visas’. Ah, those are for when he gets to Dubai or Belize…”
On a day when the only Portuguese bank account held by a Russian targeted by EU sanctions has been ‘frozen’ containing the princely sum of €242, anything would seem to be possible.
