Ricardo Salgado, former president and founder of the Banco Espírito Santo (BES) bank in Portugal, was taken into custody on 24 July on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust, forgery and money laundering, reports Público.
Investigators in Lisbon interrogated Salgado for more than seven hours. He was later realeased after paying 3m euros in bail.
Shortly after his release, the principal shareholder in the BES group, the Espirito Santo Financial Group holding company, requested protection from creditors close to the Luxembourgish authorities.
For Público, these two episodes represent —
a turning of the page for the most influential centre of power in Portugal’s political, social and financial life for the past fifteen years.