Carlos Costa wants to “restore the truth” in Parliament
"There are many accusations made against the supervisory institution which distort the reality of what happened", stated the governor of the Bank of Portugal.
Carlos Costa wants to attend a Parliamentary Committee to “restore the truth” and to defend himself of the accusations made against him which “distort the reality”. He showed his intentions in a letter sent to the chairwoman of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Administrative Modernization, Teresa Leal Coelho, to which ECO had access.
At issue is the report made by the Portuguese TV station SIC, called “Assalto ao Castelo“, concerning the Universo Espírito Santo case. In the report, the Bank of Portugal is accused of having ignored information which would have allowed to remove Ricardo Salgado from the Bank Espírito Santo sooner, namely:
- An alert made by technical staff of the Bank of Portugal advising the governor to reassess the former chairman’s good repute;
- A report handed in by Fernando Ulrich in August, 2013, pointing out the financial problems of the Espírito Santo Group, which allegedly ended up being shelved.
Carlos Costa is taking initiative to be heard by the deputies. In the letter he sent to Teresa Leal Coelho, the governor stated “there are many accusations made against the supervisory institution which distort the reality of what happened”. Therefore, Carlos Costa wants to “clarify the issues” brought up in the report made by SIC, “in order to defend the Bank of Portugal and promote trust” in the institution.
