The devastating fallout from the collapse of BES bank over six years ago continues today with new lawsuits filed, this time against the Portuguese State – and powered by US investment bank Goldman Sachs.
These lawsuits were always expected but they are doubly embarrassing given that Goldman Sachs non-executive president is former Portuguese prime minister (and indeed former president of the European Commission) Durão Barroso.
That said, these are matters that stem from the Bank of Portugal’s controversial decision to retroactively remove over €2 billion-worth of investment bonds in ‘good bank’ Novo Banco dumping them in the ‘bad bank’ (what was left of BES) – essentially ensuring everyone involved would lose their money.
Hopes in the early days were that this issue could have been dealt with by the courts in England – bearing in mind Portuguese justice in cases like these moves at the speed of a dying snail. This was not to be (click here).
Thus today’s news is just ‘another step on a long road’ trying to wrestle back money that disappeared in a scandal that itself has still to reach a courtroom.
