Trial of former BES chief postponed
The trial of the former banker for crimes of abuse of trust, in a separate case from Operation Marquês, was already expected to be postponed due to the deadline to present the defence.
The start of former banker Ricardo Salgado’s trial scheduled for today has been postponed, the judge in the case announced.
Judge Francisco Henriques kept the dates of 14 and 15 June, so the trial should start next Monday.
The trial of the former banker for crimes of abuse of trust, in a separate case from Operation Marquês, was already expected to be postponed due to the deadline to present the defence.
The collective of judges had validated its territorial jurisdiction to judge the case and had scheduled hearings for today, Tuesday, and for June 14 and 15 (already with closing arguments), in what would be a speedy trial, but the fact that the deadline for the defence to contest the charge has not yet expired could force the court to postpone the start of the trial.
Sources close to the case had told Lusa that since the time limit for presenting the defence has not yet expired, “the trial cannot begin without the defence being presented” and analysed by the court. Otherwise, “it would be absolutely unacceptable”.
The former head of the Portuguese BES will go to trial for three crimes of abuse of trust as part of Operation Marquês. And autonomously from the other defendants, since the judge Ivo Rosa, at the time of the instructional decision, announced that it would separate the cases of Salgado, Vara, Carlos Santos Silva, João Perna and José Sócrates, the only defendants that the investigating judge pronounced on April 9.
Ricardo Salgado was accused of 21 crimes: one count of active corruption of a holder of political office, two counts of active corruption, nine counts of money laundering, three counts of abuse of trust, three counts of forgery of a document and three counts of qualified tax fraud.
