Portugal's biggest banking scandal trial begins
After a ten-year investigation, the trial dealing with the biggest banking scandal in Portuguese history has begun in Lisbon. The private bank Banco Espírito Santos (BES) went bankrupt in 2014 but was bailed out, receiving more than 8 billion euros from the state. The main defendant is former BES chairman Ricardo Salgado, who is accused of leading a network of corruption and money laundering.
Justice that comes too late is not justice
The complications and long duration of this trial testify to the inefficiency of the Portuguese justice system, writes Visão:
“No one knows for sure whether there is anyone left in the justice system who has followed the proceedings from the beginning to the end of this decade. And it's clear that many will not survive the coming years or decades. An endless judicial process ultimately does no justice to anyone. The BES case has destroyed individuals, families and businesses, many of whom will not live to see the final judgement, and it almost brought down the national financial system.”
Settling scores with a corrupt era
Correio da Manhã says society needs this trial to come to terms with the past:
“It has revealed a 'system' of power and business based on the distribution of money, jobs, connections and various favours, creating a network of complicity that runs through party lines and the central institutions of power. And its roots go back a long way to the 80s and 90s, when the most enduring ties between political parties and business people were formed. ... In a country where there are no elites that would reject these practices for social reasons, it's good that this 'system' is now sitting in the dock. Even if it's very belated and only for the history books.”
The main defendant is not really in court
In the decade since the trial began, Ricardo Salgado has developed dementia. Expresso argues that forcing him to appear in court is inhumane:
“The humiliation to which Salgado has been subjected is the opposite of any notion of justice. ... He was aware of his actions when he committed them, but now he doesn't know what he's doing. Ricardo Salgado is not really on trial, because for that he would have to be aware of the proceedings and his crimes. Due to his advanced dementia, he is absent - and that was not of his own free choice. Without his presence, we are witnessing a spectacle that is not worthy of the justice system in a civilised country.”