Former governor Carlos Costa this Friday confirmed allegations against the prime minister about alleged pressure from António Costa not to remove Isabel dos Santos from the BIC, guaranteeing that he will answer for what he said “wherever that is”.
Carlos Costa’s position was revealed today in an interview with CNN, in which the former governor of Banco de Portugal (BdP) confirmed the call he received from the Prime Minister, António Costa, following a meeting between the regulator and Isabel dos Santos. .
“I stand behind what I have said and will respond to what I have said where possible,” he said.
Carlos Costa reiterated that António Costa had contacted him by telephone, after a meeting the former governor had with Isabel dos Santos, with the partner of Angolan businesswoman Fernando Teles and with the director of the supervision department Carlos Albuquerque.
“The call was very short, very loud, but it was very pronounced because I have rarely received such a loud call in my life,” said the former governor.
“It is important to emphasize that the call could have taken place. What was not necessary was to shoot the ex-governor for reporting that the call had taken place,” he defended.
When asked about António Costa’s letter sent in December 2015 to Jean-Claude Juncker, then President of the European Commission, and Mario Draghi, then President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Carlos Costa said: “It would be good if we had spoken, that we had considered the terms of the letter, I know that the letter was part of another political battle over the “clean” exit or not [do programa de ajuda externa]🇧🇷
“The relationship between European supervisors and the banking industry is of course determined by this idea”, said, adding that the message “caused surprise [entre as autoridades europeias] and surprise is a diplomatic term for something more important”.
When I was questioned about the statements made this week by some heads of Portuguese banks that they do not intend to read the book “O Governador”, which is the result of a series of interviews by the journalist of Observador Luís Rosa to Carlos Costa, and what has caused controversy, the former governor was compelling: “I think it would be very interesting for bankers to read the chapter on the entry of the ‘troika’ and the stabilization program of the financial system. The Bank of Portugal avoided a nationalization of the banking system if we had followed the model advocated,” he said.
“I am sure that bankers should at least read this chapter to understand that they were on the verge of collapse,” he added.
Carlos Costa also said he “regretted” the absence of socialist figures he had counted on when presenting the book “O Governador” – with right-wing names like Cavaco Silva and Ramalho Eanes, former Prime Minister Passos Coelho. and some of his former ministers, as well as PSD president Luís Montenegro, among others — as the public was “unbalanced”.
António Costa announced that he will sue the former governor, accusing him of writing a book of lies and misrepresentations about him and mounting a political operation to attack his character, after reaffirming that there was “a attempt by the government to interfere with the political power of the Bank of Portugal”.
Source: DN
