In response to the Lusa agency on the deadline given to Álvaro Sobrinho to pay that bond, after having been subject to that payment on Thursday and prevented from leaving Portugal, while not providing a bond, the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) explained that the judge (Carlos Alexandre) did not set a deadline and that is why the supplementary period of 10 working days counts.
After that period, and if the security is not paid, the coercive measures will be immediately reassessed by Judge Carlos Alexandre, said the CSM.
Regarding the deadline for the former president of BESA to deliver the passports, it is five working days.
Álvaro Sobrinho was interrogated on Thursday by Judge Carlos Alexandre, at the Central Criminal Investigation Court (TCIC), in Lisbon, and, according to a note from the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DCIAP), he was subject to the following coercive measures: provision of a security deposit in the amount of six million euros, ban on leaving the country until the date on which the deposit is fully paid, obligation to report to the Portuguese authorities on a quarterly basis and ban on leaving the Schengen zone, with the concomitant delivery passports immediately.
According to the DCIAP, which investigates the most serious and complex organized crime, Álvaro Sobrinho is accused of committing, in co-authorship, five crimes of aggravated abuse of trust, eight crimes of aggravated abuse of trust and seven crimes of money laundering advantages obtained with the practice of the aforementioned illicit acts.
At stake - refers the DCIAP - will be an illegitimate benefit received by the defendant of approximately 340.7 million euros.
"The fact is related to financing, through lines of credit in the Interbank Money Market from Banco Espírito Santo to Banco Espírito Santo Angola, and to the laundering of the advantages obtained with the diversion of funds with such origin", reveals the DCIAP.
There are also other defendants in the investigation.
On leaving the courtroom on Thursday, defense lawyer Artur Marques declined to say whether Álvaro Sobrinho was faced with new facts presented by the Public Prosecutor's Office, but revealed that he will appeal the bond applied, with which he does not agree. Álvaro Sobrinho was until then only subject to a term of identity and residence (TIR).
Last Tuesday, the name of Álvaro Sobrinho had been targeted by an editorial investigation, which released new documents about the participation of BESA and its former president in a scheme to divert millions of dollars from a social housing project in the country.
According to a statement from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), available on the organization's website, which is part of the team that investigated the Panama Papers and Suisse Secrets 'dossiers', "Álvaro Sobrinho, who led an Angolan bank that collapsed with billions of dollars in unexplained debt, is linked to a scheme to divert hundreds of millions of dollars from an Angolan government-backed social housing project," in 2009.
At issue is the bank's participation in a financing for the construction of a social housing that ended up never happening, and that researchers say involves the embezzlement of 750 million euros, initially approved for the project that never happened.
