Follow our liveblog here where we follow the start of the trial in the BES/GES case
The defense of former banker Ricardo Salgado requested this Tuesday at the beginning of the trial in the BES/GES case that the court formally identify him immediately, exempting him from being present at the session and attending subsequent sessions.
“I request that the identification be made and then that he be exempt from being at the hearing and appearing at subsequent hearings”said lawyer Francisco Proença de Carvalho.
The former president of the BES, who was accompanied by his wife Maria João Salgado due to his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, is one of the defendants present in the courtroom, practically complete with lawyers, defendants, media and the public.
The president of the group of judges, Helena Susano, in the absence of opposition from the Public Ministry and assistants, granted the request to formalize the procedure now: “It is appropriate and justified to identify those who are there and then proceed with the identification immediately.”
Ricardo Salgado was then asked by the president of the jury about his name, who responded without difficulty.and he also knew how to say his parents’ names, despite an error in his mother’s last name.
He remembered that he was a banker and that he lived in Cascais, but he didn’t remember the exact address.
When the judge asked him if he wanted to be present at the trial, Ricardo Salgado could not answer and his representative ended up interrupting the judge. “I think it is clear that our constituent has the illness that he has. I think the doctor understands the effects of the disease. or else you have to take an exam,” said Francisco Proença de Carvalho.
The lawyer finally got up and advise the former banker to say that he wanted the trial to take place in his absence, what happened next, being then authorized by the court to leave the courtroom at 10:25 a.m.
Meanwhile, several lawyers also asked that their clients be tried before the court in their absence.
The former president of the BES, Ricardo Salgado, is the main defendant in the BES/GES case and is responsible before the courts for 62 crimes, allegedly committed between 2009 and 2014.
Among the crimes charged They include one for criminal association, 12 for active corruption in the private sector, 29 for qualified fraud, five for infidelity, one for market manipulation, seven for money laundering and seven for falsified documents.
In addition to Ricardo Salgado, 17 other defendants are also being tried, namely Amílcar Morais Pires, Manuel Espírito Santo Silva, Isabel Almeida, Machado da Cruz, António Soares, Paulo Ferreira, Pedro Almeida Costa, Cláudia Boal Faria, Nuno Escudeiro, João Martins Pereira, Etienne Cadosch, Michel Creton, Pedro Serra and Pedro Pinto, in addition to the companies Rio Forte Investments, Espírito Santo Irmãos, SGPS and Eurofin.
According to the Public Ministry, the collapse of the GES will have caused losses of more than 11.8 billion euros.
Source: Observadora
