As investigators probe the extent of Banco Espírito Santo’s intrigue, extraordinary new links revealed by the US Wall Street Journal have suggested the bank may well have moved millions for General Gadhafi, the Libyan leader murdered by his own people in 2011. Also in the eye of authorities are suspicions that BES Miami laundered €30 million for a Venezuelan company. The money is believed to have then been sent to the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.
Citing “people familiar with the investigations” into BES, the WSJ writes: “The web of money-laundering investigations, most of them previously unreported, highlight the lengths to which Banco Espírito Santo went to win business in parts of the world that were shunned by rival lenders… And they mean that remnants of the bank, as well as some former executives and business partners, face a new level of government scrutiny and, potentially, penalties as the probes unfold.”
The paper also named former BES managers working for Novo Banco who were detained as a result of a huge police swoop last week (see http://portugalresident.com/novo-banco-directors-named-as-new-defendants-in-bes-scandal). They are “Isabel Almeida and António Soares” both of whom apparently worked in Novo Banco’s finance department.
Meantime, in Libya, “Banco Espírito Santo’s Aman Bank has attracted scrutiny from investigators looking into whether the bank helped funnel money out of the country for former leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s inner circle,” writes the paper.
“In early 2011, the Libyan uprising against the Gadhafi regime shut down the country’s largely state-controlled financial system. Aman Bank, which was 40%-owned by Banco Espírito Santo and operated as part of the Espírito Santo group, became a rare gateway for moving money in and out of Libya.”
“Banco Espírito Santo executives facilitated wire transfers that whisked money out of the country for clients of Aman Bank and other lenders.”
WSJ added that thus far “Aman couldn’t be reached for comment”.
Meanwhile, the paper claims the New York District Attorney’s office is looking into Banco Espírito Santo’s relationship with a Venezuelan businessman who prosecutors suspect helped launder money for a Venezuelan company that itself is under investigation by several US agencies for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
