Lisbon, May 5, 2025 - The former president of Banco Espírito Santo Angola (BESA), Álvaro Sobrinho, was fined €204 on Monday for failing to attend the first session of his trial on 18 counts of breach of trust and five counts of money laundering.
Álvaro Sobrinho, an Angolan national residing in Angola, had contested, in a request submitted by his defence, the validity of the 90-day visa granted to him to appear in Portugal for the trial, but the argument was rejected today by the Lisbon Central Criminal Court.
The trial has 45 sessions scheduled until the end of the year.
"As he holds a visa, even if for a shorter period, there is no reason to believe that there is any impediment [to his presence at the trial]," said the chairman of the panel of judges.
The magistrate decided to sentence Álvaro Sobrinho to two units of account, which, according to the figure set for 2025, corresponds to €204.
The court also rejected the official suspect's request to follow the trial by videoconference.
On leaving the courtroom, the former Angolan banker's lawyer assured that the decision would be "subject to timely procedural action".
"We obviously disagree with the court's position. The situation I have highlighted makes it impossible for Álvaro Sobrinho to be present here at the trial," said Nuno Teodósio Oliveira.
When confronted with the fact that Álvaro Sobrinho had been granted a 90-day visa, the lawyer argued that his client “needs a visa for the specific purpose of this situation, which is not the case”.
Of the five official suspects, the former banker Ricardo Salgado, who suffers from Alzheimer's, and the Portuguese-Angolan businessman Helder Bataglia, who resides in Angola and requested in March to be tried in absentia, are still absent today, with the court's permission.
The remaining two defendants were present at this morning's session: Amílcar Morais Pires, considered Ricardo Salgado's former right-hand man, and former Banco Espírito Santo (BES) manager Rui Silveira.
At issue in this case is the alleged embezzlement, between 2007 and 2012, of funds from a BES loan to BES Angola in Interbank Money Market (MMI) credit lines and bank overdrafts.
In total, the defendants are alleged to have obtained illicit gains of around €5 billion and more than US$210 million.
In their opening statements, the public prosecutor promised to prove in court the crimes attributed to the five defendants, while the defence argued that their innocence would be demonstrated.
The trial continues this afternoon with the questioning of Amílcar Morais Pires, the only one of the two present who, for now, has agreed to speak in court.
"What they are doing to me in this case is a profound injustice. I am here to defend myself and to demonstrate that I always acted in defence of BES and BESA, and that this case is completely unjustified," he said as he left for lunch.
IB/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
