Lisbon, July 20, 2026 (Lusa) - The Lisbon Central Criminal Court on Monday acquitted all the official suspects, including former BES bank boss, Ricardo Salgado, in a case relating to the alleged corruption of a former vice-president of Brazil's central bank.
The former chairman of Banco Espírito Santo (BES) was accused of having paid, through entities in tax havens, $1.8 million (around €1.6 million at the current exchange rate) to Allan Simões Toledo so that Banco do Brasil would provide a loan of $200 million (almost €175 million at the current exchange rate) to the Portuguese bank, which went into administration in 2014.
The loan was granted in 2011 through the International Money Market (MMI) and, in the court's view, «not even circumstantial evidence can prove the existence» of a «corrupt agreement» regarding the use of that credit facility, which «had already existed» since 2009 and which was never fully utilised by BES.
«No evidence has been provided that the official suspect Ricardo Salgado promised Allan [Simões] Toledo [...] payment of $1.8 million in return for his intervention in the approval/maintenance of the credit line at the MMI in favour of BES», emphasised Ana Paula Rosa, the presiding judge of the panel, when reading out the judgement.
It was also not proven that the former vice-president of Banco do Brasil had «received that sum or any other sums in return».
The case also involved allegations relating to the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, which were likewise deemed unproven by the Lisbon Central Criminal Court.
«The court's conviction must be supported by consistent and reliable evidence, and not by mere deductions or unsubstantiated intuitions,» the judge maintained, pointing out that it is not the defendant «who must prove his innocence» but rather «the prosecution's case that must be proven» and that, in case of doubt, the defendant is given the benefit of the doubt.
In addition to Ricardo Salgado, the official suspects in the case included the former director of BES Madeira, João Alexandre Silva; the former employee of a branch of the Espírito Santo Group (GES) in Dubai, Humberto Coelho; two former employees of BES/GES, Paulo Nacif Jorge and Paulo Murta; the lawyers Miguel Freitas and Sofia Freitas; and the law firm owned by the latter two.
Allan Simões Toledo was not a defendant in the case, the trial for which began on 20 May 2025 and concluded today.
The charges related to active corruption causing harm to international trade, passive corruption in the private sector and money laundering.
The case, with charges dating from December 2021, was the first of the so-called ‘Espírito Santo Universe' – linked to the collapse of BES/GES – to reach a first-instance verdict, which is still subject to appeal.
On leaving the courtroom, Ricardo Salgado's lawyer declined to comment on victories or defeats, expressing satisfaction that the court had recognised that «this charge was completely unfounded».
«A victory would have been for my client not to have been tried at all, because he is unaware that he has won this case; he is suffering from dementia and was unable to mount a defence in any way that could be considered even remotely normal,» stated Francisco Proença de Carvalho.
In June 2026, the Lisbon Central Criminal Court imposed a single sentence of 13 years' imprisonment on Ricardo Salgado, to be served concurrently, for corruption and breach of trust relating to two cases arising from Operation Marquês and the so-called EDP case; the sentence was suspended as he has Alzheimer's disease.
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