BES case set to be heard in February

The judge of the Central Court of Criminal Instruction Ivo Rosa has already set the hearing for the opening of the largest case in Portuguese justice, the BES case, which involves Ricardo Salgado, former leader of GES. The date is set for February.

In November, Ivo Rosa admitted that the four-month deadline set for the closure of the investigation phase of the Espírito Santo Universe case is “humanly impossible to achieve”. According to Ivo Rosa’s application, the reasons are related to the complexities of the case file as well as the nature of the crimes and legal issues raised.

“In fact, our experience as a judge, especially as a criminal investigation judge and intervention in other equally complex cases, allows us to state that we are certainly in the presence of the largest and most complex case before the Portuguese criminal justice system,” the judicial requirement says.

The case in question consists of 767 volumes, including arrests, opposition incidents and bank attachments, and 171 volumes of main files, processed until the date of distribution in 687,398 sheets. Plus all the bank, search and miscellaneous files (more than two hundred) and seized computer equipment. The indictment has 3,552 pages, signed by seven prosecutors.

The investigation into the Espírito Santo Universe resulted in 25 defendants, among 18 people and seven companies, for a total of 356 crimes charged, according to the 4,117-page indictment from the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Ricardo Salgado is the main defendant but there are more like his two cousins – José Maria Ricciardi was exonerated – and other known names like Amílcar Morais Pires and Francisco Machado da Cruz.