Costa denies making any effort in favor of Isabel dos Santos’ fitness.

The Prime Minister claims that he has never taken steps with Banco de Portugal “or anyone else” in favor of Isabel dos Santos’ suitability and only acted to try to remove the blockade of shareholders in the BPI.

António Costa stated this position in response to questions put to him by the PSD on November 23 last year, after former Banco de Portugal governor Carlos Costa accused him of pressure and “political interference” in the removal process. BIC.

Following the claims, which he called “false and offensive,” the prime minister announced in November that he would sue the former governor.

Answering questions from PSD, António Costa suggests that he expressed concern to the Governor of Banco de Portugal about actions that could jeopardize the shareholder agreement reached at BPI in April 2016, due to the stability of the Portuguese financial system.

“This is what loyally, directly, informally – and without publicity – conveyed the prime minister to the then governor. [Carlos Costa]within the framework of the contacts he maintained,” the responses regarding the BPI and EuroBic processes read.

And it goes further: it was thanks to the government diploma that Isabel dos Santos lost the right to block the BPI, “which objectively contradicts the idea that the government or the prime minister acted in her defense.”

In a letter sent to Parliament, the chief executive assures that he has “never taken steps with the governor of the Bank of Portugal or anyone else in favor of” the daughter of the former President of Angola, “and in particular about whether he should, regardless of whether she is considered suitable to be the administrator of EuroBic, not to mention the fact that she is the daughter of the president of a friendly country,” the prime minister replies, contradicting Carlos Costa’s version.

António Costa later mentions that EuroBic “was not the object of any action” on the part of his government and that “only Banco de Portugal could assess the grounds for its interference in the determination of the Board of Directors” of this bank. “which was never publicly reported or brought to the attention” of his management.

“At that time, there was another process involving the engineer Isabel dos Santos, related to the stability of the financial system and the national economy, which required the closest attention from the government: the situation with the blockade of shareholders, which was checked by the BPI. bank,” the head of the executive branch notes.

In his responses to questions from the PSD regarding the daughter of former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, António Costa admits that his government has “monitored the situation for which it is responsible in order to avoid the risk of another systemic bank lawsuit” in the financial sector of Portugal.

The Prime Minister refers that “following an intense negotiation process, BPI shareholders publicly announced on April 10, 2016 that they had reached an agreement that guaranteed that BPI Bank would solve the problem of exceeding the large risk limit and, thus, it avoided sanctions measures that put under the threat is an entity.

However, three days later, he notes, his boss became aware that Isabel dos Santos was “questioning the agreement reached by the shareholders of BPI on April 10, and learned that this was the result of interference by the Banco de Portugal governor regarding EuroBic, about which the government Portugal did not know and for which it does not bear any responsibility or involvement.”

According to António Costa, in this context, “taking into account the relevance” of the BPI in the Portuguese banking system and the risks that existed for the banking system and for the Portuguese economy, then “it was clear that any actions that jeopardized such an elusive agreement between shareholders entailed serious risks to the stability of the financial system.”

“This was an analysis of the Portuguese government, and even on Tuesday it was strange that this is not a testament to all those who have to take care of financial stability,” he notes in another indirect criticism of the former governor of the Bank of Portugal.

On April 17, 2016, BPI informed the Bank of Portugal that the arrangement previously announced to the market had expired.

“This is how, thanks to a government diploma, the engineer Isabel dos Santos lost blocking powers in the BPI, which is objectively contrary to the fact that the government or the prime minister acted in her defense. So sovereignty was needed to send an unmistakable signal. its determination to ensure the stability of the financial system,” he adds.