On April 20, 2022, the Public Prosecution Service of Portugal initiated an investigation into Banco Espirito Santo (BES) for corruption and submitted a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) request to Switzerland.
The prosecution has raised serious allegations, including bribe payments, money laundering, forging of documents and criminal association. Central to this investigation is Canaima Finance Ltd, a shell company registered in Panama and controlled by Rafael Ramirez, which allegedly received €47 million in bribes from BES.
A ruling from November 2023 notes that it was one of several offshore companies involved, stating, “…*one of these offshore companies, J. Ltd, allegedly served the interests of the Venezuelan Minister at the time and was registered in Panama in the name of his vice-minister’s wife…”. The Minister in question is Ramirez, with [Milagros Coromoto Torres Moran* (wife) and Nervis Villalobos (vice-minister) also implicated]
“…L’une de ces sociétés offshores, J. Ltd, qui aurait servi les intérêts du Ministre […] vénézuélien de l’époque et avait été enregistrée, au Panama, au nom de l’épouse de son vice-ministre..” The Minister referred to is Ramirez. Milagros Coromoto Torres Moran (épouse) and Nervis Villalobos (vice-ministre) are also involved. On November 12, 2014 a $12 million wire was sent from Canaima to a relative of Ramirez and his wife: “… société K., enregistrée au nom de A., parent par alliance du Ministre en question, et de son épouse.”
Parent par alliance is translated as relative, that is the mysterious individual is a relative of Ramirez and his wife Beatrice Sansó.
Diego Salazar, linked to various corruption schemes that cost PDVSA billions, is a relative of Ramirez, yet he never had a close relationship with his wife Beatrice. Salazar is known to have operated accounts on behalf of Ramirez. Ramirez’s brothers are involved both with Salazar (in Andorra) and in separate graft cases. Additionally, Ramirez’s uncle was assigned to orchestrate corrupt dealings in Brazil with Odebrecht.
The only relative fitting the description of the inner circle is Baldo Sansó, Beatrice’s brother and an unofficial negotiator in PDVSA’s critical affairs. In connection with the criminal investigation involving BES, Portugal’s prosecutors have also submitted treaty requests to Italy—not regarding Salazar or Ramirez’s brothers and uncle, but focusing specifically on Beatrice and Baldo, as both are allegedly implicated in the BES case.
Baldo’s ties to Italy are well documented. His career includes consulting work for Bain Capital in Milan from 2000 to 2006. Both Baldo and Beatrice’s late mother, Hildegard, maintained a residence in Rome’s Via Germanico for many years, along with a bank account (La Cassa di Ravenna, acc CC0740223617) that received over €15 million in payments from Baldo and others.
Ramirez himself resided in a Rome apartment purchased by “son vice-ministre,” namely Villalobos, who is also directly involved in the BES investigation. The recipient of the $12 million payment from Canaima is represented by former prosecutor Pierluigi Pasi, who previously served as the lawyer for Hector Dager, connected to Odebrecht’s corruption schemes in Venezuela. Considering the personal circumstances surrounding Salazar and Ramirez’s brothers and uncle, it appears improbable that either of them would fund a legal battle with Switzerland’s Public Prosecution Office (MPC) to halt the transfer of financial information to Portugal. The only individual likely capable of such action is Baldo Sansó.
There’s another clue in MPC’s ruling for the recipientn of $12 million transfer: “En septembre 2014, suite à la faillite en cascade de sociétés du groupe B., le numéro IBAN du compte de A. ouvert près la banque L. aurait été remis à l’avocat – mandaté par l’entremise de G. – chargé de résoudre la question de la vente des titres (banque D.) détenus par J. Ltd et de transférer les liquidités.”
When BES faced inevitable bankruptcy in September 2014, the account details pertaining to the individual identified as A. were forwarded to the legal counsel representing BES in Switzerland, specifically either Jean-Luc Schneider or Michel Joseph Ostertag. This action was taken to facilitate the sale of the BES bonds held by Ramirez in his Canaima Finance account, allowing the proceeds to be transferred to A.’s account. It represented an effort by Ramirez and his associates at BES to recover any assets they could, by shifting illicit funds to another bank account, likely controlled by Sansó.
