José Sena Goulão / Lusa
At issue are mechanisms to hide GES’s financial situation and convince BPES clients to buy ESI and Rioforte bonds, which ended up losing value. Creditors claimed 11.1 billion euros.
Swiss authorities suspect that he set up a financing scheme for the Espírito Santo Group (GES) with characteristics of “Dona Branca” (financial fraud, orchestrated by the “Banqueira do Povo”, Maria Branca dos Santos, which marked Portugal in the 80s, based on paying old investors with money from new subscribers) or a Ponz schemei, based on selling debt to customers to hide losses and keep the group operating.
The suspicion appears in a rogatory letter sent in February 2026 to the Portuguese Public Ministry, cited by this Saturday and which requests information about Salgado and Francisco Machado da Cruz, former GES accountant. Both are targeted in an investigation in Switzerland for suspicions of aggravated money laundering and forgery of securities.
According to Swiss magistrates, between 2008 and 2014 mechanisms were created to hide the critical financial situation of GES and convince clients of Banque Privée Espírito Santo (BPES) to buy bonds from Espírito Santo International (ESI) and Rioforte, which ended up losing value. You creditors of these companies claimed 11.1 billion euros. The Swiss investigation, opened in August 2014, maintains that the crimes have not yet expired.
The judges suspect that this financing model worked like a Ponzi scheme: the money raised from new investors would serve to meet previous commitments and prolong the group’s appearance of solvency. Between 2008 and 2014, BPES clients were allegedly tricked into purchasing debt from Espírito Santo International (ESI) and Rioforte, securities that later turned out to be worthless.
Opened on August 4, 2014, one day after Banco de Portugal intervened at BES, the Swiss investigation is still ongoing. This month, the Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Office asked the judge in the BES/GES case to extract a certificate with information about Salgado and Machado da Cruz to send to the Swiss authorities.
