Paulo Macedo was questioned on Friday at the press conference to present the 2019 results in Lisbon, on the 'Luanda Leaks' case, stating that CGD has an "overwhelming" relationship for granting credit to Portuguese companies and that what it is analysing is their ability to operate and generate revenue that will allow them to pay the credits.
The businesswoman Isabel dos Santos is, in Portugal, a shareholder of the non-financial companies Galp, Nos and Efacec.
Specifically about Efacec, Paulo Macedo said that Caixa Geral de Depósitos is also monitoring the situation, since it is a creditor.
"We don't talk about customers. What I can say is that we are very attentive, as always, to disturbances in Portuguese companies, particularly those with the largest size. Caixa is following this situation very closely, there are risks, but as you all know we are talking about a very competent company in technological terms and we have to see that our goal is that it can comply with its restructuring plan, continue in the market and liquidate its financing", he said.
The president of CGD said that in a case like 'Luanda Leaks', the bank, on the one hand, evaluates what can affect the companies it has financed, to assess the recoverability of its financing (evaluate the credit guarantees, see the revenues of the companies and the capacity to pay debt).
In addition, it reassesses financial operations to confirm that there was nothing suspicious. According to Macedo, this work has been done and "there are no special cases to report so far".
The president of the Portuguese public bank also said that in recent years the CGD has strengthened its control mechanisms, initially with more workers for the areas of internal control (risk, auditing, 'compliance'), and that it has even created an internal unit for financial crime.
"The CGD is one of the entities, not to say the one, that systematically reports cases to the FIU [Financial Intelligence Unit]", the unit of the Judiciary Police dedicated to money laundering and terrorist financing crimes, he said.
Macedo also said the CGD was the first of the large banks to "close its 'offshores' [tax havens].
