The letter sent to José Eduardo dos Santos, to which Lusa had access as part of the Novo Banco commission of inquiry, asked for support to resolve the issue of BESA, and was sent by the CEO Rui Guerra and the Chairman of the Board of Directors, António Paulo Kassoma.
The problems in BESA's loan portfolio precipitated BES' request for help from the Angolan state, formalized by Ricardo Salgado in a letter sent in November 2013, to which Lusa also had access.
"With the frankness and sincerity that I owe Your Excellency I recognize that the recovery of the bank cannot do without the support of the Government of Angola, with the framework that will be considered most appropriate, possibly in the ways that have been followed internationally in similar cases," Salgado wrote to Eduardo dos Santos.
The new board of directors of BESA said that Álvaro Sobrinho had not sent a proposal for a solution to BESA's credit problems during his management, and that he did not have "an effective will or capacity to solve the credit problems created by his own management.
The letter, dated 2013, reports a meeting held by the new administration with Álvaro Sobrinho, after his departure, having received "a letter containing a list with the identification of some clients that were unknown", and that also "was not exhaustive and did not identify all" of the clients.
"If a solution for BESA's loan portfolio is not adopted and implemented by the end of this year [2013], BESA will be faced at the beginning of 2014 with a critical situation, with the inherent systemic risk for the entire Angolan financial system and for the banking supervision system, under the responsibility of the National Bank of Angola, with unpredictable consequences for the national economy," the letter said.
The directors of BESA thus requested "the adoption of a transitional solution" until the end of 2013, "in light of the very serious situation of BESA's loan portfolio," along with a definitive solution to be taken by the end of the following year, 2014.
"In any case, and at this time, the situation of BESA can only be provisionally resolved by issuing Angolan State Guarantees and the taking of some exceptional measures by the National Bank of Angola to mitigate the current risk of BESA's credit portfolio," the letter said.
In late 2013, an Angolan State guarantee, signed by José Eduardo dos Santos, was eventually granted to BESA's credits, whose validity was reiterated by Finance Minister Armando Manuel, which was later revoked.
"Only exceptional and urgent measures to support BESA" would prevent "the materialization of a serious crisis in this bank, caused by the management of the previous CEO [Álvaro Sobrinho]," the then new BESA directors warned.
The credit of the former BES to BES Angola (BESA) is one of the most controversial issues regarding the losses assumed by Novo Banco.
BES's exposure to BESA between 2008 and 2014 rose from 1700 to 3300 million euros, corresponding to 47 percent of BES's own funds at the time of the Portuguese bank's resolution in August 2014.
