Banco Espírito Santo SA, which is being investigated for alleged fraud and accounting irregularities, is also facing investigations to determine whether it was involved in money laundering in several countries,
the
Wall Street Journal
reported.
Prosecutors in New York and a federal grand jury are looking into whether the bank’s unit in Miami was used to launder money by a Venezuelan businessman, the
Journal
article said.
On Nov. 27, authorities in Portugal searched several offices and homes in Lisbon. Two former executives in Banco Espírito Santo’s finance department are suspects, the article said. Banco Espírito Santo’s offices in Switzerland were searched in September in a money-laundering investigation, the report added.
Investigators are also looking into whether Banco Espírito Santo’s Aman Bank in Libya helped transfer money out of the country for members of former leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s inner circle, the
Journal
article said. In addition, the Bank of Portugal is investigating possible money laundering by the bank’s Angolan unit, the article said.
“Portuguese regulators have accused Banco Espírito Santo of engaging in fraudulent activities to prop up the family-controlled conglomerate, whose interests ranged from banking to diamond mining to hotels,” the
Journal
report said. The family patriarch, Ricardo Salgado, was detained and released in a separate Portuguese money-laundering probe in July, the report noted.
The
Journal
article said that Salgado built the bank by focusing on former Portuguese colonies, such as Angola and Brazil, and other rapidly expanding markets, such as Venezuela and Libya, by cultivating connections with government officials and wealthy local families. (Source:
Wall Street Journal
, Dec. 2, 2014.)
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