The inspection "will be concluded later this month of March," said the governor, at a hearing in the Budget and Finance Committee (COF) of the Portuguese Parliament, which is taking place this Wednesday in Lisbon.
According to the head of the central bank, "the Bank of Portugal deals diligently and systematically with all complaints reported to it", but admitted that "it will not necessarily share with a whistleblower the steps that have been taken".
Following the inspection in progress, Carlos Costa said that it will be assessed "how the operations have performed and what has been the follow-up given in terms of communication to the authorities", by EuroBic, of the transfers involved in the 'Luanda Leaks'.
The main case around the 'Luanda Leaks' is related to transfer orders from a Sonangol account in Lisbon-based EuroBic to an offshore company in Dubai, allegedly controlled by Isabel dos Santos, amounting to about 90 million euros, in about 24 hours, in a period of time following the resignation of the oil company's leadership.
The BdP inspection "has to do with the way the order was transmitted and whether it was properly scrutinised, and with the internal procedures that followed that scrutiny", Carlos Costa later added.
The governor also said that "only" at the final moment of the evaluation "will the consequences be drawn" by the supervisor.
The suitability of the bank's shareholders "can and should be reassessed in light of the ongoing investigation into the operations that were known following the Luanda Leaks".
"Now it remains to be seen whether they were known to the management of EuroBic", he added, saying that "it is important to check whether the mechanisms for monitoring these operations were informed of this operation, and whether they ignored them".
Despite the inspection currently underway, Carlos Costa also assured MEPs that the leading institution acted "as soon as the seizure of the accounts" of Isabel dos Santos in Angola was known, still in December, and not on the date of the release of Luanda Leaks, in January.
