Banco Espirito Santo: The Angolan Story

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If you thought what I described in my recent pieces on Bulgaria was corruption, just read this.....it makes Bulgaria look like the Garden of Eden. Honestly, I was shocked. What was supposed to be a post about the failure of the Angolan arm of BES turned into a post about the systematic looting of Angola by its corrupt political elite. And I've only scratched the surface, really. Horrifying.

I am grateful to Nicholas Shaxson for pointing me in the direction of this piece of analysis.

Related reading

The BES story so far:

Banco Espirito Santo: a Portuguese disaster, not a European crisis
How to rip off a bank, Espirito Santo style
How to rip off a country, Espirito Santo style

Plus, for comparison purposes, the Bulgaria sequence:

What on earth is going on in Bulgaria?
The curious case of the Bulgarian bank runs
The Bulgarian Game of Thrones
The EU should beware of Russian interest in Balkan banks

Oh, and if' you'd like some more Angolan and Portuguese horror, here's David Malone from 2012. Different bank, same people. Plus the media dimension, which I didn't even touch on. Enjoy, if you can.

Ugh.




















Ricardo Espirito Santo Salgado, CEO of BES, meets Eduardo dos Santos, Angolan President.
October 2013. Photo credit: Angop

Comments

  1. Anonymous10 August 2014 at 10:50

    Then, vou should read this:

    http://club-k.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18520:vice-do-mpla-recusa-se-a-devolver-emprestimo-do-besa&catid=8&Itemid=125

    The MPLA vice-president refuses to give back the BESA' s loan of 10 million dólares because, as the guy says, it was a gift...

    You can also explore de Obiang, Banif and Luís Amado triangle.

    As I told vou, Portugal is not a serious country...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Frances Coppola10 August 2014 at 11:21

      Thanks. He will get away with it, because the Angolan state - or rather its people - will pay. Not sure that is a criticism of Portugal, though. But I will have a look at the rest....fascinating.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10 August 2014 at 15:15

      You are welcome.

      José Eduardo dos Santos always protects is gang. And he can say "l' état c' est moi"...
      He signed a sovereign guarantee to BESA wich we now know it was ilegal. But what is legality wen you read this about Álvaro Sobrinho: http://club-k.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18679:alvaro-sobrinho-transferiu-1-bilhao-dolares-com-ajuda-de-ex-assessor-de-jes&catid=11:foco-do-dia&Itemid=130
      Apparently it's all legal (as you can read in the document), but where is lhe Money? After all, we are talking about one billion dollars...
      Talking about the question of "criticism of Portugal", you must remember that we have democratic acces to Holly Spirit data but not to the Shekinah...
      Please, proceed your excellent work.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous10 August 2014 at 19:48

      Correction: "his gang"

      Delete
  2. Rolf Englund11 August 2014 at 18:22

    Recent comments about the accession of Eastern European states and the preoccupation with low paid jobs shows an astonishing naivety what Bulgaria is really about.
    New Economist, 22/8 2006

    http://www.nejtillemu.com/enlargement.htm#bulge

    ReplyDelete
  3. Portal Emprestimo14 March 2015 at 16:03

    Here in Brazil We are going to have such an enormous scandal on BNDES that will dwarf this.

    ReplyDelete

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