Contrary to satirical website OInimigoPúblico, which reported on Friday that Portugal’s richest man had lost all his money through investments in ‘commercial paper in Grupo Espírito Santo’ and ‘toilet paper’ in Banco Espírito Santo, Américo Amorim is still very much riding high and has been dubbed Portugal’s richest man for another year running – although the BES banking scandal and other financial disasters have dented his personal wealth to a tune of at least a billion euros.
According to Exame magazine, Amorim lost a huge amount of money in his investments in Banco Popular, the Banco Único de Mozambique and Banco Luso-Brasileiro. His losses in commercial paper held with Grupo Espírito Santo have further dented his personal wealth, which in 2013 stood at 4.5 billion.
Dipping to 3.3 billion now, 80-year-old Amorim could be said to have taken a financial battering, but he is still leagues ahead of the second “most rich” on the rich list, Alexandre Soares dos Santos, sporting a personal fortune of 1.6 billion.
Intriguingly, Soares has also lost money this year. His fortune in 2013 was rated at over 2 billion.
As RTP concluded: “The richest stay rich, albeit a little less rich”.
