"Regarding this decision, the corresponding appeal has already been filed at the Luanda Court of Appeal", reads a report that BES delivers quarterly to the Lisbon Commercial Court, consulted by Lusa.
According to sources linked to the process, in this appeal, BES insists that it is a "legitimate party" in the process, which is why it was harmed, thus contradicting the decision of the Luanda District Court, which says that the Portuguese bank "was not a legitimate party". in the process in which it requests the annulment of the deliberations of the central bank.
At issue is a 2014 decision by the National Bank of Angola regarding BESA, which would have injured BES, then its shareholder, by more than 273 million euros.
According to BES's 2017 Annual Report and Accounts, on 4 August 2014, the Board of Directors of Banco Nacional de Angola "deliberated on the adoption of extraordinary measures for the reorganization of BES Angola, currently Banco Económico, and appointed of interim administrators for the financial institution.
Within the scope of this reorganization process of BESA, on 20 October of the same year, the National Bank of Angola determined the adoption by the then shareholders of BESA, including BES, of a set of measures, including among these the carrying out of a capital increase of the financial institution in Angola.
This capital increase, according to BES's 2014 report and accounts, would be carried out by converting part of the respective senior interbank loan, at the time held by Novo Banco, and followed by a reduction in shareholders' equity by absorbing all the accumulated losses, as well as a second capital increase subscribed by shareholders and other entities accepted by the National Bank of Angola.
Thus, on October 29, 2014, at a general meeting, BESA decided to carry out operations to reduce and increase the bank's capital.
With these operations, the bank's shareholders at the time, including BES, saw their holdings in BESA "completely diluted", the document said.
Since then, BES has ceased to have any stake in BESA, "having incurred the full loss of the amount invested of 273 million euros", says the report and accounts of the Portuguese bank, now in liquidation.
And it is for the value of this position that BES, now in the process of liquidation, is fighting in Angolan courts.
However, the Luanda District Court considered, in the judicial process aimed at annulling the decision of the National Bank of Angola, of 20 October 2014, on measures concerning the financial situation of BESA, that BES SA, the majority shareholder of that bank Angolan, "was not a legitimate party". And, "deeming a dilatory exception of active illegitimacy to be valid, the BNA acquitted the instance", says the report consulted now by Lusa, a court decision that was already reported by the Jornal Expresso website earlier this week.
It is against this decision that BES has now appealed to the Luanda Court of Appeal.
As for the remaining legal actions in progress in Angola, carried out by BES, there has not yet been any "relevant evolution", according to the same quarterly report.
In the BES resolution, in August 2014, Novo Banco was created to which deposits, BES employees and assets considered less problematic are transferred (a topic that has since been the subject of much debate in view of the high losses of Novo Banco and resource of public money). As for BES (then called 'bad BES') the assets considered 'toxic' (as in the case of holdings such as BES Angola, BES Miami, Aman Bank - Libya), as well as the shareholders.
