SDP wants to rewrite Banif’s history and there is a new front against the government

The leader of the socialist parliament said this Wednesday that there was a new front against the government and accused the PSD of seeking to rewrite Banif’s history, a process in which Passos Coelho’s chief executive “has a track record.”

These allegations were made by Eurico Brillante Dias hours after PSD parliamentary leader Joaquim Miranda Sarmento said he would decide whether to conduct a parliamentary inquiry into the relationship between António Costa’s governments and the Bank of Portugal “in light of the Prime Minister’s responses” to the social democrat questions.

Joaquim Miranda Sarmento said that after the publication of a book based on the testimony of former Banco de Portugal governor Carlos Costa, the PSD considered that “a set of revelations about the Banco de Portugal prime minister’s dealings in banking” had been made.

“Due to the influence that the Prime Minister tried to exert on the Bank of Portugal to appoint engineer Isabel dos Santos to the administration [do BIC]or in Banif,” he said.

In response to this position of the PSD, at a press conference in Parliament, Eurico Brillante Díaz considered that “there is a clear desire not only to rewrite history, but also to see if the Portuguese have already forgotten what happened.” [com o Banif]for there is also a new front in the struggle against the PS and against the government.”

“All tools are used, even those related to the rewriting of history, to save some of the characters who in the recent past, through their actions and inaction, caused great harm to the country, in particular in the government between 2011 and 2015, led by Pedro Passos Bunny” he pointed out.

Eurico Brilhantes Diaz, who in the penultimate legislature was rapporteur for the commission of inquiry into the Banif resolution process, defended that the Social Democrats are now trying to “get rid of their responsibilities” in the Banif process.

“On November 26, 2015, after taking office, the first government led by António Costa, in order to guarantee the stability of the Portuguese financial system, had to urgently decide [o Banif] until December 31st of the same year. According to a letter from the then Governor of Banco de Portugal, Carlos Costa, dated December 4, Banif was on the verge of liquidation in 2016,” he said.

In this December 4 letter, also according to the PS parliamentary leader, Carlos Costa, warned that “if the bank is liquidated by the Single Settlement Mechanism in 2016, depositors, individuals and micro, small and medium companies with more than 100,000 euros in the account can be claimed to pay for the liquidation and eventual resolution of the bank.”

“Responsibility for constantly postponing the decision of the Banif problem until the elections [legislativas de outubro de 2015]pushing the belly forward, the circumstance of the bank liquidation hypothesis comes from the PPD/PSD Pedro Passos Coelho,” said PS parliamentary leader, adding former finance ministers Vítor Gaspar to the list of culprits. and Maria Luis Albuquerque.

The situation, said Eurico Brilante Diaz, for whom “Dr. Carlos Costa was governor of the Bank of Portugal.”

“It is unacceptable and unfortunate that, given the likely liquidation of the bank in 2016, as Carlos Costa signaled to then Finance Minister Mario Centeno, PSD is now intent on rewriting history. Carlos Costa knows, wrote and reported it to the government [de António Costa]which was supposed to solve this problem by December 31, 2015, given that the European Commission, for reasons of competition, severely restricted the sale of a business to an operator that had a presence in the Portuguese market, and that this did not affect competition in the Portuguese market, ”he justified himself, hinting on the passage from Banif to Santander.

According to the president of the PS parliamentary group, the PSD aims to “create a smokescreen over the discussion of the budget for 2023 and clean up the register of the government of Pedro Passos Coelho.”

“It seems obvious to me that if there is an issue that the PDP/PSD does not want to discuss, it is Banif. We just see a smoke screen to hide the lack of alternatives in the state budget and, strictly speaking, avoid discussing the essential, namely the fight against inflation. The PPD/PSD is seeking to restore the version it failed to defend in the Banif Commission of Inquiry,” he urged.

At a press conference by Eurico Brillante, Diaz dismissed the thesis that Santander supported the Banif purchase, saying that “three things are known: the decision must be made by the end of 2015, otherwise there is a risk of liquidation; voluntary sale there were no buyers who did not need state assistance, and there was a set of conditions put forward by the Directorate General for Competition so that the bank or the activities of the bank could be sold to another legal entity.

“This decision should have been made before Christmas. [de 2015] and Antonio Costa’s government had less than a month to decide on Banif, which was capitalized in early 2013. A bad legacy left by the PSD/CDS-PP government,” he added.